


Bleached Out Eyes

by Eliza_Bella_xx



Series: Bleached Out Eyes/Black Tar Palms Killjoy Fics [1]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 08:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliza_Bella_xx/pseuds/Eliza_Bella_xx
Summary: Jet Star and Fun Ghoul are more than wary when two Killjoys roll up to the Diner asking for help.They're right to be on their guard, though, as there's more to the two brothers than meets the eye.Please don't read if you're under 16. If you ignore this warning, know that you are violating the authors wishes.





	1. Intro

Hello reader,

If you are under 16 years old (>13, 14, or 15) then  **please do not read this fic**. Knowing that there are children interacting with my work and my account makes me deeply uncomfortable.  
As there is nothing I can do to restrict access as to who sees my work, I just have to trust that you will have enough respect, as a fellow MCR fan, to  _stop reading here._

If you are 16 or over, then I hope you enjoy reading! Please leave as many comments as you wish, I love reading them!  

If you are under 16 and continue to read this, or any of my other works, you had better realise that you are _violating my boundaries and wishes_.  **Shame on you**.

Regards,

The Author.


	2. Dust Babies

Ghoul knew that the sun would be setting right about now, but if he looked out of the window without knowing the time in that moment, there was no way of knowing that.

He and Jet had found themselves holled up in the diner, battening down the hatches and blocking up any gaps in the windows, doors, and walls and preparing themselves for a sandstorm.

Sat on the bar of the diner - what once must have been a friendly family restaurant, now an empty shell of a building on the side of a long forgotten dust road - Ghoul was picking stones out of the tread of his boots. Most of the time he didn't care; they lived out in the deserts of the Zones, stones in his boots weren't an issue unless they somehow actually got inside of his boots. But walking on the linoleum coated concrete floor of the Diner, the stones created an incessant  _tap, tap, tap,_ that even Jet was complaining about, to the point that he gave Ghoul one of his screwdrivers to pick the gravel out with.

Jet himself was in the back, looking through what supplies there still were and trying to figure out how much they should take back to the Lockup with them, once the storm had passed.

Outside, the storm was howling through the corrugated iron panels of the old building, something rattling loudly against the exterior and echoing off the hard walls of the place.

Barely audible to Ghoul, over the banging and the wind, was Jet's singing. Jet was older than Ghoul, and had been younger than Ghoul had been when he'd left the city. He's seen some things, he'd heard some things, and Ghoul would always be jealous that Jet had once heard songs on their original tapes rather than just through people singing them after the tapes had been lost or worn out.

"Hey, Jet?"

Ghoul had to practically shout to make sure Jet heard him, but the stocky, frizzy haired man called back in reply, "Yeah?"  
"What's that you're singing?"

Ghoul paused his pinging of stones across the floor as he waited for a reply, raking a hand through his long dark hair and pulling his bandana off from around his neck.

Jet walked out of the back room, carrying the small radio with him, and scratched his head.

"I, uh... I dunno. Damn," he shrugged, "It might not even be a real song, who the fuck knows."

"Ah well," Ghoul shrugged and went back to de-stoning his boot, "You gonna try getting the radio working?"  
"Yeah, but the static from the storm might mess with the signal so I dunno if we're gonna get to hear from Dr D tonight."

"Well I at least want to know how long we're gonna be stuck here."  
"I can try working on the Jukebox again?" Jet suggested, switching on the radio and trying to tune in to a station.

Pausing his actions again, Ghoul looked at Jet, deadpan, and said, "Jet, the jukebox can't tell me what the weather's gonna be, and neither can listening to Blondie on repeat."

"Hey, I know for a  _fact,_ " Jet punctuated the word with a smack to the radio as he continued to try and get it working, "That there is some good music in there."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

The radio continued to emit static and the garbled nonsense of half-tuned stations, until finally, after ten solid minutes of searching for some kind of audible broadcast, the deep, rich tones of Dr Death Defying's voice graced the air inside the diner.

"...Show Pony...on the far side... storm, out in Zone Five, with the storm moving west and across to Bat City. I suggest, to all you dust babies listening out there on the waves, that you get settled, 'cause these are gonna be some long, dusty nights. But fear not, children, because Dr D is here, and I promise to you that everything's gonna be okay. If you've got a gun at your hip, and hope in your heart, not even the Scarecrows can hurt you..."

The familiar sound of the Last Post started playing through the old portable radio, the one blown out speaker rattling slightly with the treble.

Ghoul and Jet had no time to enjoy the music that Dr D played next, as headlights passed over the front window of the diner.

Before Ghoul could even react, Jet had struck a defiant stance, drawn his gun and had his eyes trained on the door, prepared for the worst. Ghoul could only tug his boot back on and exclaim, "Who the fuck is driving in this storm?"

"I don't fucking know but I don't like that they've stopped here."

Ghoul tied the laces on his boot as best he could, and drew his own gun, listening out for any untoward sounds from outside. The headlights of whatever vehicle had pulled up were now gone, meaning either someone was waiting for them, or someone was on their way to the door.

Sure enough, a few moments later, there was loud knocking on the door and Ghoul and Jet were at arms, unsure of what to do. Neither of them wanted a fight, but if whoever was outside was just another innocent killjoy, they couldn't just let them get sand-blasted to death.

Looking at one another, Jet took the initiative and directed Ghoul towards the door, where there was still a loud knocking, as well as someone yelling over the whistle of the storm.

"On the count of three," Jet said, Ghoul nodding in agreement, "One, two,  _three_!"

Ghoul wrenched open the door, dislodging their makeshift draft excluders, while Jet had his gun held steady in front of him, directed at where the mystery person would be stood.

Two figures fell inside, along with a cloud of dust and grit, and collapsed to the floor. 

Without even having to take a second look, as they wrestled the door shut again, Jet and Ghoul could tell that these were fellow killjoys.

One was dressed in red leather, their blond hair windswept and obscuring their face. The other was dressed in blue leather with a shock of scarlet hair, but again their face was hidden, this time by a pair of goggles and a red and black bandana.

The redhead quickly regained some composure, coughing as they sat up on the floor. They sat up, pulling the blond into their lap and taking the bandanas off from both of their faces, and, looking up at Jet and Ghoul, asked in a tearful, pleading voice,

"Please, you've got to help him!"


	3. Cactus Juice

"Please!"

The redhead was holding the blonds body tightly, the man in question stirring only slightly, his eyes seeming heavy and his breathing worryingly slow for someone who'd just battled against the storm outside.

"What's wrong with him?" Jet asked, making sure the door was secure before crouching down and looking over the blond man with hurried concern.

"We ran out of water. I don't... He got real bad real fast," the redhead sounded as though they were crying, but with their goggles still on it was hard to tell, "The storm got inside our container, we couldn't stay so I biked us over-"

"Biked?"Ghoul asked, astounded. He knew some Killjoys favoured motorbikes or quad bikes over cars on the coarse sand of the Zones, but the idea that anyone would bike through a storm like  _that_  was ludicrous.

"It was the only way to get here! I'm sorry, this was the first place I thought of and I didn't know what else to do! We didn't know the storm was coming!"

"Okay, okay," Jet tried to sooth the redhead, who was now rocking themselves and the blond man in their arms back and forth, "I'm Jet Star, this is Fun Ghoul."

"I'm... I'm Party, this is Kobra," the redhead was definitely crying, finally pulling the goggles from their face and wiping their eyes, still hiding their face from Jet and Ghoul, "Please, just help him."

"Alright, come on," Ghoul reholstered his gun, looking to Jet, "Let's move him to the back, see if we can't get some fluids in him."

Jet, being the stronger of the two, lifted Kobra's torso, while Ghoul took his ankles. Kobra was helpfully quite light and slim, making moving him into the back and onto one of the beat-up booth seats easy. Party followed after them, breaths still shaky as they watched, tightly clutching to the strap of the satchel that was slung across their chest, while Ghoul and Jet gathered together what they thought they would need to help this poor guy.

Jet fetched a glass and a sponge, while Ghoul got two bottles of water and a bottle of cactus juice. Bringing them back to where Party was crouched at Kobra's side, Ghoul handed one bottle of water to the redhead, and gave the other two bottles to Jet, who mixed them half and half in the glass.

"Here," Ghoul smiled at Party, who looked hesitantly at the water bottle, "You must be thirsty, too."

At first, Party just looked at the bottle, but slowly looked up at the dark haired man and took the water, still seeming unsure.

"Thanks," he smiled, taking just a small sip before closing the bottle again, "Sorry, I-I'm just more worried about Kobra."

"That's alright, but don't neglect yourself."

Ghoul sat himself down on a nearby seat, looking at Party sat on the floor, who was in turn watching as Jet dabbed at Kobra's lip, letting some of the water-juice mix trickle into his mouth. The fact that Kobra was still semi-conscious made the task easier, as he still gently swallowed the droplets rather than choking on them.

"There," Jet looked at Party, trying to show the redhead what he was doing, "Just gently squeeze a bit of this into his mouth, a little bit at a time, until he can sit up and drink for himself."

Party nodded and took the sponge, taking over Jet's actions.

Ghoul watched the scene, still somewhat unsure about who Party was, other than just 'Party'. He hadn't even gotten a good look at their face yet, their features hidden behind the unruly crimson tendrils that hung from their head.

"So, uh, Party?" Ghoul started, earning a raised eyebrow from Jet, which the older man quickly hid from the visitor.

"Yeah?" Party replied, not looking away from Kobra's semi-unconscious from.

"You and Kobra, you must have second names? I mean, unless you're part of a known clan, you have your own second names... Right?"

"Yeah, uh, he's Kobra Kid. I'm Party Poison."

"Kid and Poison, eh?" Jet mused, looking at the two newcomers, "So, are you two just zone buddies, or partners, or do you have a crew or faction?"

Party shook their head, "None of those," they paused their dabbing of Kobra's lip for a moment, but resumed in the blink of an eye, "We're brothers, and it's just us. We were staying in a shipping container camp with some other Killjoys for the past few days but they all left without warning. I guess they heard word of the storm."

Ghoul thought for a moment, accidentally musing aloud, "Brothers..." but quickly continued with, "So they just left you?"  
"I can only assume so."  
"That's not on," Jet shook his head, his hair moving a fraction of a second behind the rest of his movements, "They shouldn't have just left you to the mercy of a storm like that."

Party paused again.

"I'm sure they had their reasons," he dipped the sponge into the glass again and replaced it on his brother's lip, "But in any case, we made it here, more or less in one piece."

"How long have you been out in the zones, the two of you?"

Party turned his head a little in their direction, but didn't look up at the two of them.

"A couple of months now. Actually, it's been nine weeks since we left Battery City."

"So how'd you get here? How have you been surviving?"

"I drove by motorbike, Kobra was in the sidecar, but... It's out in the sandstorm now, so the engine's probably ruined already. And I've already said," his head tilted to one side, still looking at Kobra, "We've spent the last three days at the camp with a small group of others, but before there we slept under a tarp attached to the bike, like a makeshift tent."

"You were sleeping under a tarp? In the zones? Out in the open?" Ghoul exclaimed, genuinely stunned, "How the fuck did you make it this far?"

Party let out a noise that sounded like a laugh, "I really have no idea. We got very lucky."

"If you can call dehydration 'lucky', then sure," Jet said derisively, standing back up and walking towards the front of the diner again, "I'm gonna grab the radio, see if we can get some signal in here."

Ghoul stayed silent as he watched Jet leave the room, and moved closer to Party, standing on the other side of the booth seat that Kobra was laying on, leaning on the back of it and smiling down at the redhead.

"Sorry, he doesn't mean to be so harsh. He's been in the Zones a while, longer than I have. He just... Gets a bit pissy about wannabe Killjoys who come out of the city and aren't prepared for what it's like out here."

"It's okay. Everyone makes mistakes, Kobra and I just left in a bit of a hurry, that's all," Party tilted his head up a little, Ghoul finally seeing some of his face, his thin lips curling into a small smile, the light seeming to catch his eye for the split second he looked up into Ghoul's face, "Not everyone comes out here for rebellion's sake. Some of us have things we're running from."


	4. Afterdark

Before too long, Kobra Kid was conscious and aware of where he and Party Poison had ended up, sat up and drinking by himself.

By now, it was too dark to even see the sand and grit swirling past the windows, the four men having brought blankets and lamps into the back room to keep warm now that the sun was gone from the sky.

The two brothers sat on one booth seat, sharing a blanket that was wrapped around their shoulders, while Ghoul and Jet sat on another seat, a blanket each.

Party had said that they did have their own blankets and lamps, but they were still outside with the bike and there was no way of getting to them. Jet had tried to take their minds off the possible loss of what few belongings they had by asking about their lives before coming out to the Zones.

"I was working at a pill dispensary," Kobra explained, sounding ashamed, "I really had no other options. Once you take those career aptitude tests in school, you have to pick one. That was the only job I was told I could have, so... I had to. I would have left sooner but, in the City, credits are credits. You can't make swaps like you can out here. I had to pay for rent and food so saving up to get out of there took a while."

"What about you, Party?" Ghoul asked, "I mean, you're brothers, you must have helped each other out?"

The two brothers looked at each other for a moment, but looked away again, down at their drinks - Party was still holding the same water bottle that Ghoul had given him well over two hours ago.

"I, um... I-I guess... I didn't know about his plan to escape? For a while at least. And I was working a better job so it was easier to save up?"

"What was your job?"

Party hesitated again, fiddling with the cap of the bottle, his face still hidden behind a curtain on hair.

"An entertainer. I-I'd rather not talk about it."

"So you worked for Better Living?"  
"He said he doesn't want to talk about it," Kobra cut in, his voice hoarse but stern, "Just drop it."

They fell silent again, Ghoul feeling uncomfortable; he and Jet hadn't spent much time with other desert dwellers for a while, just Dr D and Show Pony, so he'd forgotten how unsociable Jet could be.

"So how about you two?" Party asked quietly, eyes still downcast, "Ghoul said that you've been out here longer. So what's your origin story, Jet?"

"I grew up in one of the old neutral towns left after the Helium wars, but after half of the locals got ghosted for hiding Killjoys, I wanted to fight back. I learnt as much as I could from the people who passed through now and then, and left when I was twenty and tried to find a clan who would take me. I ended up following some Zone runners around for awhile, learnt some basic mechanical skills. One Zone runner, Show Pony, took me to Dr Death Defying. He needed his wheelchair fixing, and in return he hooked me up with someone who had old fix-em-up cars. I got a Trans Am out of it so it was a fair deal. A few weeks after that I found Ghoul."

"And how did you make it out here, Ghoul?"

He shrugged, "I hung around in the Lobby way more than I should have, met people who were there to get out. I didn't really know what was outside of the city, but I heard stories and knew that, whatever was out here, it'd be a better kind of life. It might be shorter, and maybe more dangerous, but at least I'd be living, not just existing. But, yeah... I made it out here on my own. I met Jet on my second day out here and the rest is history, we make a great team - Jet's all about logic and justice, and I'm, like, freedom and anarchy. Like... we're two sides of the same coin, so it works," he glanced at Jet and smirked, "I'm just glad he puts up with my shit, to be honest. I'd be screwed if I was out here alone."

Kobra raised his drink to his lips and paused, "Alone is the worst place you can be."

"Wow," Jet said, somewhat condescending, "Profound. Who wants something to eat?"

"I know I do," Ghoul replied, "So long as it's not fucking Power Pup again."

"Nah, don't worry," Jet stood up and started walking towards the kitchen, "Remember, we got bread and vegetables from that gang the other day."

"Oh shit! Yeah!" he turned around to the brothers, "You guys down for bread rolls and grilled veg?"

"Yeah, absolutely," Kobra nodded, taking another drink from his glass. Jet looked to the red headed man.

"How about you, Party?"

Again, he hesitated, just like he had done with most questions that evening, his mouth hanging open for a second before he shook his head.

"Uh, no. I'm not... Hungry. Right now, I mean. I might be later but don't go wasting your supplies on me right now."  
Ghoul frowned, "You sure?"

Party nodded, pulling his side of the blanket tighter around himself, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't worry," Kobra added with a smile, "He's usually like this, nothing to be concerned about."

"Okay, we'll I'll make sure there's a bread roll or something for you later."

Party smiled, looking down again, "Thanks."

Ghoul followed Jet thought to the kitchen, picking up one of the lamps and carrying it through.

The kitchen had once been fully functional, even with a working fridge and deep fat frier, but now it was home to Jet and Ghoul's gas camping stove, a small bag of gas canisters, a store of wood for campfires, and a battered cooler box of the fresh food that they'd acquired only two days ago.

Ghoul put down the lamp next to Jet, who had taken out his pocket knife and put it on the countertop as he tried to light the camping stove.

"I don't like them."

"Huh, what? Why?" Ghoul looked at jet as he walked to the cooler box and took out the bags of sliced pumpkin, eggplant, and cactus.

"They're hiding something. Party's got something he doesn't want people to know, and I don't like it."

"Oh my god, Jet," Ghoul rolled his eyes, "He's just not hungry, chill out."

"You heard him, he worked for BL. They both did."

"Yeah, and so did I, once upon a time. Every adult in the city had to work for BL at some point, and not everyone wants to talk about it, especially to strangers. You're one of the lucky ones."

Jet grunted in reply, not bothering to look up from cutting the vegetables into smaller pieces while the grill pan heated up on top of the stove.

Seeing as Jet had nothing more to add to the conversation, and wasn't about to admit that Ghoul was right, Ghoul decided to change the subject.

"Is there any tofu? It'd go really nice with the veg."

\---*---

The diner was silent, other than the clattering of the storm, still just as furious as it had been during the day. The lamps were off, meaning the room was in complete darkness, as the place had lost electricity a long time ago, and the blinds were drawn shut.

Ghoul and Jet shared a mattress, with two blankets each, after Jet had seen some sense, calmed down a little, and given the two brothers his own mattress to share for the duration of their stay, as well as their own blankets too.

Ghoul wasn't sure what woke him. 

He found himself staring at the wall. He only knew it was the wall because he knew where he was laying in relation to the rest of the room. It had taken him a few moments to know whether his eyes were even open or not, it was that dark, but after a few firm blinks, he was definitely awake.

Sitting up, Ghoul pulled his blankets tighter around him, drowsy but not feeling any sign that might suggest he could go back to sleep. Looking around, he saw that all the lights were still out, because he could see nothing. Seeing that there was no light, and no food being cooked, Ghoul just assumed that the storm must have done something very loud which woke him up.

Suddenly there was the sound of movement behind him, followed by a whispered, "Hey."

Admittedly, Ghoul forgot for a moment that there were two other people staying in the diner that night with him and Jet, and the voice made him jump.

"Who's that?"

"It's Party."

Ghoul reached out, searching for a lamp on the floor in front of him, finding it finally and turning it on.

"Hey. Why're you awake?"

"Can't sleep," Party was sat back up on the booth seat, wrapped in just one blanket, "How about you?"

"Dunno, just woke up."

"Odd," Ghoul saw Party shrug, "I was going to go and have a little look around, but maybe we could sit and talk for a bit?"

"I think Jet might try to shoot you if he found out you'd been sneaking around while he was sleeping," Ghoul tried sounding light-hearted with this remark as he struggled to his feet, but they both knew that Jet probably would draw his gun on the newcomer, gived the chance.

"Why doesn't he like us?" Party asked softly as Ghoul sat down beside him.

"He's just wary of you 'cause you're new and he thinks you have something to hide because you won't talk about your life before the Zones."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry," Ghoul moved his blankets around, wrapping one of them around Party's shoulder too, "I understand, even if he doesn't. We all change our names out here for a reason."

"So... Were you running from something?"

Ghoul chuckled, "Uh, not really, just from the confines of existence. But I guess I used to be a bit of a... A shitbag."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, well... There's not many reasons that a guy would be hanging around in the Lobby, is there?"

"Y-You mean... The, uh... The Pornodroids?"

Ghoul nodded solemnly, "Yeah, but that's in the past... I was just trying to convince myself I was straight, but it didn't work. The longer I hung around there, the more I saw, you know? I felt sorry for them... It was fucking cruel of BL to give them emotions."

Party was silent, leaving Ghoul thinking that maybe he'd said something wrong.

"I-I mean... If they really were just robots with no... No conscious thought or feelings, it wouldn't be so bad, but they're... They're people. It took me a while to realise that not all of them were okay with their existence, I guess? I knew BL was fucked up, but they're creating slaves and it's... It's horrible."

"I-I, um..."

"I don't hate Pornodroids, I hate BL for making them and bringing them straight into such a miserable existence."

"Ghoul?" Party asked, his voice still soft.

"Yeah?"

Party lifted his head, bringing his hand to his face and sweeping his hair backwards and away from his face. Turning to look at Ghoul, the light from the lamp illuminated his features and caught his eyes, bright and swimming with tears.

Not bright in the way they caught the lamp light, but as though they were emitting their own light.

His eyes were the most remarkable thing Ghoul had ever seen; Pupiless, glowing, a bleached out yellow was all that was left of his irises. 

"I'm... I'm a Pornodroid."


	5. Red

For a few long, painfully drawn out moments, Ghoul could only stare in disbelief at Party, hazel eyes looking into faded yellow ones.

There were real tears swimming in the waterline of Party's bleached out eyes, his bottom lip quivering in the lamplight, body shaking with stuttering breaths, his expression reading as fearful.

"I..." Ghoul tried to say something,  _anything_ , but found himself asking, "But the Pornodroids are girls?"

Party's expression relaxed a bit as he sat up straighter and looked at Ghoul in confusion.

"You're wrong. I'm a pornodroid and I'm anatomically male. Maybe... Psychologically, not so much, but I was designed as a male pornodroid."

Ghoul shook his head, even more surprised with the idea that an android had an understanding of gender. "I-ah... Sorry? I mean, the last time I was in the City, there were only females. Male droids... Didn't exist. You... You're..."

Party frowned, looking away as his entire body began to vibrate. It was like he was having a panic attack, but Ghoul wasn't sure if droids could  _have_  panic attacks, and started to worry that Party might just explode.

"Wh-What's wrong? Party, just... Calm down for a sec, okay? You're scaring me a bit..."

"I'm- I-I'm sorry... I just..." 

Party was crying. He was full on sobbing, his body shaking as it was wracked with sobs, and Ghoul had no idea what to do. He had no idea if Party was really telling the truth about being a droid, but if he was, Ghoul had no idea that droids could cry like this.

It took him a few seconds to react, but Ghoul remembered that, yes Party might be a droid, but he was crying like a human and needed comfort like a human. Tentatively, Ghoul wrapped an arm around Party's shoulders and pulled him into his side, hushing him softly.

"Hey, hey... It's okay. You're alright, you don't need to cry. O-or... You can cry if you want to... Or need to. Crying's okay. But nothing bad's gonna happen, you're safe here."

 

Party continued to cry and shake for a while, not saying anything as his tears rolled down his face, leaving streaks through the dust on his face. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the storm raging outside as Party's shaking subsided and his became almost still. Ghoul was still trying to comprehend the fact that the man beside him was in fact an android, but his awareness of the fact meant that the soft hum and whirring of components under his skin were obvious to him now, the vibrations just about detectable. 

Ghoul wanted to ask why Party had started crying, and how he was crying actual liquid tears, but thought better of it. Instead, he asked another question.

"Party?"

"Yeah?"

"Is, um... If Kobra's your brother, is he a droid too?"

Party shook his head, "No, he's human. But he was the first person to see me as anything other than... Than an  _object_."

"I'm sorry."

"You've no need to apologise. I mean, I'm out of the City now. Things are better."

"You know, I'm struggling to see you as anything other than a person, so... I guess that's something?"

Party sat up and looked at Ghoul, his eyebrows pulled together, "Please don't  _try_  and see me as just a droid."

"No! No no no, I mean, I-I just... I thought you were human! And now it's, like, weird knowing you're not flesh and blood. Like, you're so... Real?"

"I am real, I just have a battery rather than a heart," Party interrupted, smiling a little bit, "Have you really never met a male droid?"

"None," Ghoul shrugged, "Only female. How long have you... Existed?"

Party's eyebrows raised again, leaving him looking like a sad puppy almost, "A year, or thereabouts," He took a deep breath and sighed "I think I was one of the first batch."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Ghoul raised an eyebrow, getting a sigh in return from Party.

"It is. The first batch should never have been allowed to be used. We all break far too soon, I'm surprised I'm still standing."

"Break as in... Die? Within a year?"

He shrugged, "Some died, some just became useless. A pornodroid needs to function in a certain way, but some of us... don't. I can't... Perform certain acts anymore, but I've heard that some had electrical faults, some droids sensory receptors stopped working, some couldn't hold a charge, and some... Reset. Some had their motherboards completely wiped and were nothing more than mannequins. I guess I was one of the lucky ones; I was still useful, and I can still think and feel. I still have autonomy. And," he smiled, "I'm free now, and they can't trace me,"

" _Trace_  you?"

"All droids have a built in tracker. Kobra helped to disable mine before we left the City, but we think he kinda broke some other things too."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, I can't power down. That's why I'm awake now. I used to be able to power down at night and conserve my battery, but now I'm on. All of the time," he sighed and leaned forwards with his arms on his knees, "It's really not fun, and I'm going through my battery supply twice as fast as I should be. I'm down to my last four, which should last me two weeks but I really don't know what I'll do after that."

"God, how do you pay for all those batteries?" Ghoul was shocked, batteries weren't a cheap thing to acquire in the City, and even more so out in the Zones. If Party had been going through two batteries a week for nine weeks, it must have cost him a small fortune to stock up.

"I said, I was kept in a private building. I was a... Club? Of sorts?" Party pondered for a moment, his eyebrows pulling together and creating a crease on his otherwise flawless face, before carrying on, "I don't know what you'd call it, but people would come and request the use of a droid. Like on-site hire, I guess. But the people who visited had a lot of money, and men liked me, 'cause I was responsive but they didn't have to make me feel good because they'd be told that there was no point. I earnt a lot of credits because I was broken, which was quite ironic."

Ghoul had no idea what to say. He was glad that Party had chosen to confide in him and hadn't announced all of this to both him and Jet, but was also baffled as to why he was being so open about it now. Another thing that he was struggling to process was the apparent large presence of gay men in Battery City, albeit an underground presence. He'd always felt like such an outlier, trying to kid himself over his own feelings by being a frequent client of the female pornodroids in the Lobby, but knowing that there were other men who liked men - even if the other men happened to be pornodroids - who managed to survive life in the City, was a strange thing.

"Do... Did you like work?"

Again, Party frowned. He was clearly thinking about how to answer Ghoul's question, so he daren't interrupt the silence. After a while, Party sighed and looked at Ghoul, his head resting on his hand and his elbow resting on his knee.

"I never really...  _Had_  an opinion on it, because it's what I existed for. I haven't thought about it since I left the City, but I guess I must have been unhappy if I wanted to leave, right?"

"Well are you happy now?"

Again Party paused before replying with, "I think so. It would be better if I wasn't broken because that's making me a little worried, but I'm glad that I don't have strange men touching me anymore."

Ghoul was very suddenly aware of his arm that was still around Party's shoulders, and, feeling guilty, tried to gently remove him arm. Of course, Party noticed and smiled, which just made Ghoul feel more conflicted. He must have pulled a face, because Party smiled and shuffled close to him.

"It's okay, I don't mind having your arm around me," he leaned into Ghoul's side for a moment, as though for reassurance, "You seem like a good man."

"Okay," Ghoul replied, very quietly, still not sure how to feel about the situation, but feeling something akin to happiness that Party was comfortable around him.

The wind seemed to pick up again, everything outside of the blinds still pitch black. Ghoul was acutely aware of the soft humming of Party's inner-workings.

"How can you cry?"

"Hm?"

"You, uh," Ghoul coughed, "You can cry, and you drank water earlier. If you're a droid... How?"

Party smiled again, not seeming as bothered by the invasive questions as Ghoul had worried that he would have been.

"Crying is a function. Some... Some clients like it, but it's not just for show as it's also directly connected to the emotions center. And all pornodroids have a liquid reservoir for the mouth. But I have no need to drink or eat, I just drank that water earlier because I didn't want you to know I was a droid."

"It's okay, I have no prejudice against droids," Ghoul smiled, trying to ignore the perverted mental images that had come to mind along with Party's explanations.

"I know that now, but you never know with people out here. We've met some Killjoys who were very anti-Batt City, we weren't sure how deep their hatred went so we decided to keep it quiet. That's why I cried. I was scared. I've felt a lot of new things while being out here, it's all very intense."

Ghoul knew what he meant but anti-City Killjoys; Some of them were from the neutral towns, like Jet, and didn't understand what life in the City was really like, they never knew what it was like to crave autonomy. It was like they had only ever had to walk on eggshells now and then, while citizens of the City had to keep in line, where one misstep was a step onto razors and broken glass. There was no room for error, no time for rebellion, and the neutrals took that to mean that people  _chose_  to obey and  _chose_  to work and follow the rules of Better Living Industries. It wasn't a conscious decision, it was militaristically enforced control.

Ghoul never chose to live under BL's rules, just like Party never chose to be used in the way he had been. But to some, products of the City - the pills, the people, and the pornodroids - were toxic.

"I know how you feel about that, I really do. Even Jet doesn't know my background 'cause I know he'd hold it against me one way or another, and no one out here knows what my real name was- the one I was born with, I mean. I left that behind in the City, because the man I am now is not the same man who lived in the City."

"I never had a name," Party said simply, "I think... I  _might_  have had some kind of name, once, before I broke and went to the private building. I was just called Red when I was there, because I was the only one of my type with red hair."

"Your type?" Ghoul turned on the seat, tucking one of his legs beneath him and sitting sideways so that he was facing Party.

"Yeah, the male pornodroids come in three types; Slim, Standard, and Muscular. Standard types are average sized with an average face build, Muscular types are broader and larger in size with more masculine faces, and then there's me. Slim build and more feminine features."

There had never been that kind of variety with the female droids. The only variation they'd had was in colour, to denote their different temperaments. Ghoul wondered for a moment what the other male droids must look like, facially, then considered that there were probably hundreds of male droids with faces like Party, who seemed to him to be so unique.

"Are there still all the different colours and personalities and stuff?"

Party nodded, "Yes, we come in all the colours. There were two other Slim types in the building where I was, but they were both the yellow versions, and one had a short hairstyle. Me and the other yellow one kept our hair longer. That way we could all be told apart from one another. There was a roster of who was available to take clients and I was just on there was 'S. Red'. And, uh... I would have red eyes as well, but... The sun's bleached the colour out. It's just a cosmetic fault, but it does bother me a little."

"So where did you pick your name from? Party Poison, I mean?"

"It was a song I heard, just as we got out into the Zones. Kobra managed to tune into a radio station with his old BL headphones, and we listened to some songs. I'd never heard anything like that music, and it made me want to... To drive fast and really  _live_ , so I took it as my name."

Ghoul smiled, seeing the bright, alive look on Party's face, "That's really cool, it's great that you found something like that to inspire you."

"How about your name?"

"Oh, it's a pun! It sounds like the Italian translation of 'fuck'. I thought it was funny but not everyone chose to learn Italian at school, and not everyone had the opportunity to go to school either, so it's kind of a wasted pun. I like it though."

Party smiled and said, much to Ghoul's surprise, "Posso parlare italiano."  

"How'd you-"

"Some clients like it," Party cut in, smiling almost shyly, "I'm programmed to speak English, Italian, French, and Spanish. Some people like more, uh,  _exotic_  experiences."

"I swear," Ghoul laughed, shaking his head, "I've learnt more about pornodroids in the past twenty minutes than I ever did from hanging around in the Lobby."

"Well I'm glad I could enlighten you," Party smiled, looking away, "Thank you for being nice to me."

"You don't need to thank me for that," Ghoul gave Party's arm a comforting squeeze, "You're a Killjoy now, we've got to stick together," Party looked up at him again and Ghoul grinned, "You're one of us."

 

Silence fell again for a few moments, where Party looked like he was struggling  with whether to say something or not. Eventually he came out with, "Do you... Do you think Jet could fix me? He said he was a mechanic, he might know something that can help me."

He'd tried making the question sound casual, but Ghoul all too easily picked up on the desperate tone in his voice.

"I'm sure he can try. And if he can't, we'll make sure you have all the batteries you could ever need."

Party smiled, the sweetest, most genuine smile Ghoul had ever seen on a person's face, and Ghoul smiled back. He couldn't help it. Party's bleached out eyes were like sunshine in the darkness of the diner and Ghoul felt like he'd truly made a friend.

 

They stayed up talking for the rest of the night, about the Zones, about music, about Kobra Kid and Jet Star, all the way up until the sun rose through the sandstorm and the world was once again awake.


	6. Crossed Wires

Jet wandered in from the kitchen carrying two water bottles, and handed one to Kobra Kid.

"Here, I'll see what kind of stuff we have for breakfast in a bit," he smiled. For Ghoul, it was odd seeing Jet out of his jacket for once; though he had a few t-shirts that he wore under his jacket, he wore it almost twenty-four seven because of the cold desert nights. Ghoul had almost forgotten how toned Jet's arms were and it had caught him a little off-guard when he'd first seen him that morning.

 

Ghoul and Party had been the first ones awake, having been up for most of the night already. Kobra followed, jolting awake and immediately asking for Party. The redhead had gone and sat with him, explaining that Ghoul knew that Party was a droid, and that he was going to make sure they were safe.

They agreed to tell Jet that Party was a droid, wanting to try and get him fixed as soon as possible. It would be unfair to hide something like this from Jet as well; he was the one with the skills it would take to fix Party, and Party wanted himself and Kobra to stay. They had nothing and no one else in this world, and it was a harsh world. Their motorbike and very few belongings had probably been ruined by the storm now, and Ghoul had been the first to suggest they stayed together.

"There's strength in numbers," he'd argued, along with the silent argument of feeling a new kind of bond with Party. Whether or not Party felt this too, Ghoul had no idea, but they way he'd been so honest, spilling out the way he felt that night, made Ghoul want to protect him.

 

"Yeah, uh," Ghoul coughed, catching Jet's attention, "I'll help you with that, I'm actually pretty hungry right now."

Jet sighed and stood back up, having only just sat down, while Party and Kobra glanced nervously at Ghoul, who just nodded once, subtly, in return.

"Alright, come on, then," Jet said, walking back through the back room to the kitchen, "I know what you're like with food, so I'd rather keep an eye on you anyway."

 

In the kitchen, Jet started looking through what supplies they had, suggesting making toast with the bread they got the other day with some olive oil and tinned fruit, but Ghoul just stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Jet didn't notice Ghouls silence for a few moments over the clattering of tins on the work surface, turned around when Ghoul didn't make any moves towards the food.

"What're you doing?" Jet asked, frowning as he leaned against the cupboards. Ghoul kind of froze for a moment, his mouth hanging open as he thought about what to say.

"I have to tell you something," he eventually managed to get out, which just made Jet give him in even stranger look.

"Okay?"

Ghoul said nothing, making Jet quirk an eyebrow as he waited.

"If you're going to tell me you're gay, then you already told me and the whole Scorpion Crew a few months ago after they mixed your moonshine with even stronger moonshine."

Ghoul blushed a little, remembering the night that Jet was talking about. Thankfully the need to change the conversation was enough to make him broach the subject he needed to.

"It's about Party. He... He told me something."

Jet was suddenly very interested, "You spoke to him? What is it?"

"I, um... Look, firstly, you have to know that there is no kind of danger."

This, of course, just put Jet more on edge. His hand immediately went to the gun that was still in his holster on his hip, and his voice lowered as he stepped closer, looking past Ghoul and into the back room and asking, "What is he?"

"Whoa, hey! Dude," Ghoul put his hands on Jet's chest (not that it would have done anything had Jet really wanted to push him aside), "Calm down, I said nothing's wrong."

"Well, what do you need to tell me then?" Jet's eyes seemed darker than usual as he looked down at Ghoul, "Because the way you started that doesn't make things sound good."

"Don't automatically assume that he's dangerous, I literally said there's no danger." Ghoul tried shoving him, but Jet just stepped back of his own accord to save him the effort.

"Well?"

"Take your hand off that damn gun, firstly," Ghoul pointed to the raygun as Jet's finger slowly slid away from the trigger and hung limply at his side, "And secondly..." he sighed, "I spoke to him last night, and... He's a pornodroid. Not only that, but his battery's fucked."

Jet just stared at Ghoul for a very long, stunned, silent moment, his mouth hanging open a little, frowning. Eventually he managed to ask a question that was just as off-the-point as Ghoul's first question to Party had been when he'd found out too.

"I thought they couldn't go over the City limits?"

"Apparently they can. Also," Ghoul threw up an arm to indicate behind him, "Male pornodroid. Actual, anatomically male pornodroid."

"You mean he's got," Jet vaguely waved his hand over his own crotch, "You know?"

"Yes, but he's broken and he ended up in some kind of gay droid brothel or something," Ghoul shook his head and tried to get the conversation back on track, "Anyway, he's broken. All the pornodroids have trackers, but when they disabled his tracker, it broke something else and now he can't power down and his batteries are draining twice as fast."

"Why're you telling me this?" Jet asked, looking genuinely confused, "What's your point?"

Ghoul couldn't help but stare in disbelief, "Jet, you're a fucking mechanic."

"Yeah, a car mechanic."

"You fixed Dr D's wheelchair!"

"That was electronics."

" _He's_  electronics," Ghoul argued, "Come on... Please, just take a look?"

"I'm not fixing a droid's dick-"

"His  _battery_ , you asshole. Please, he's just like us, just like any other Killjoy you'd meet out here, and he needs your help."

Jet frowned, thinking for a moment. All Ghoul could do was look at him pleadingly; Jet was the only person he could think of who might be able to help Party, aside from another droid who might know the inner workings of themselves. But for now it was just the four of them stuck inside the diner for who knew how long, and Jet might be Party's only hope before his batteries ran out.

Eventually, Jet sighed his shoulders slumping as he shook his head.

"Ugh, fine. Fine, I'll take a look, only if he's okay with it."

"Oh my god, thank you," Ghoul could only bounce on the spot, not sure whether Jet would take kindly to being hugged. Jet just gave him a weird look though, making a move to step past him.

"Why're you so happy? We've known the guy for less than a day."

"Yeah, well I was up most of the night talking to him and he's really nice. We were kinda hoping the two of them could stick with us."

Jet laughed dryly and managed to step around Ghoul, nodding with a simple, "Yeah, we'll see."

 

Trailing after him, Ghoul ended up right back in the back room with Party and Kobra, Jet standing over them all like some all-powerful being.

"So, you're a droid?"

Party's head whipped around, his hair flipping out of his face and exposing his eyes, which seemed to shock Jet more than Jet had shocked Party.

"Oh my god, your eyes!"

Jet's sudden exclamation made Party shy away, flipping his hair back down in front of his face and looking away. Ghoul felt bad for him, watching an artificial blush rise on his face as he quietly replied "The sun bleached the colour out."

"So you really are a droid? A broken one?"

"Ghoul explained then?" Kobra answered Jet's question with another question, his face and voice completely deadpan. The strange seriousness of his manner made Ghoul a little uneasy, but he knew that Kobra was a good guy too.

"Yeah, and I said that if you need your circuits looking at then I can take a look."

Party scrambled to his feet and smiled, "You really will?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm not making any promises but I can definitely check to see if I can fix...  _whatever_  the problem is."

Party smiled, a wide, genuine smile - not quite as bright and sweet as the smile he'd given Ghoul last night - and bounced on his seat.

"Thank you so so much! Uh, w-when can we...?"

"We could take a look now? I'd just need to fetch my tools from the Trans Am."

"O-okay."

 

While Jet went out to the garage (which was mercifully connected to the storage room in the back of the kitchen, meaning he didn't have to go outside and the Trans Am was safe from the storm), Party paced back and forth in the back room, Kobra and Ghoul just sat watching him.

The longer Ghoul looked at him, the more he saw. The way he paced back and forth was literally robotic, every step the same distance, the name number of steps each time he crossed the room, the same smooth pivot each time he turned around and walked back the other direction. 

 Party's skin was obviously some kind of rubber plastic, perhaps latex, or silicone. He couldn't tell whether the colour of his lips was paint or dye, but he knew that he could blush, so there was at least some kind of blood-like system under his skin. From where he was sat, Ghoul couldn't hear the hum of his internal systems, but there was still some kind of light in his eyes that made his face look ethereal. 

 

Jet came back into the room, carrying his bag of tools, and dropped it down on a table, making Kobra jump.

"Do you mind?" he asked, still eerily deadpan.

Jet looked at him, slightly affronted but just smiled and replied sarcastically, "No, not at all. Do you?"

Kobra had no retort for this, and instead just glared at the taller man, who continued to grin as he opened the tool bag.

"Right," he declared, turning around to Party, brandishing a screwdriver, "The Doctor is in, show me where it hurts."

 

 

Kobra helped Party show the other two where Party's tracker had been; just at the base of his neck. There were two strips of duct tape holding together a cross shaped cut in Party's skin, underneath which was a hard plastic cover, shielding the delicate network of fractured circuit board and tangle of wires. 

"So, uh... Where do I start?" Jet raised an eyebrow and looked to Kobra, who was stood in the other side of the table that Party was laying on. Party had folded his arms and rested them under his head, his face turned towards Ghoul, who was sat behind Kobra on one of the diner seats.

"This," Kobra indicated a shattered black piece of plastic, a large chip that was fused into the board, "Was the tracker. The best we could do was smash it, but I think the force broke something underneath it, too."

"Okay... We've gotta check what's underneath, uh... Not disconnect anything else by mistake... Right..."

Jet took out one of the smallest screwdrivers he had and started poking around, quickly asking "Can you feel this?"

"I can feel it but it doesn't hurt," Party replied, trying not to move.

"If you feel anything go wrong, tell me to stop, please," Jet asked, sounding worried, "Because I really don't want to cause like... A system reset or some shit."

Ghoul noticed the look of worry flash across Party's eyes, but managed to catch his attention with a smile.

"Don't worry," Ghoul smiled, "It'll be okay, Jet knows what he's doing."

"Can... Can you hold my hand?" Party asked, pale eyes looking pleadingly at Ghoul as he wriggled a hand out from under his head and held it out towards the dark haired man. Ghoul was a little surprised but stood up and took Party's hand nonetheless.

Looking down at the droid's back, it was now very very clear that Party was not made of flesh and bone. The circuits were a incomprehensible muddle of wires, boards, and silver solder, and it kind of weirded out Ghoul to see what should have been a wound but was instead the inside of a robot.

Regardless, he gave Party's hand a gentle squeeze and another reassuring smile, receiving another one of Party's sweet soft smiles in return.

"Let's get on with it, then."


	7. Digits and Dreams

  
"Touch your left index finger to the tip of your nose," Kobra instructed Party, who followed the direction perfectly, "Okay, now touch your  _right_  index finger to the tip of your nose."

Again, Party did so perfectly.

"Now, hold out your arms," Kobra put his hands at arm's length, showing Party what he wanted him to do, "And, with both hands simultaneously, slowly touch each finger, in turn, to your thumb."

Jet had done the best he could in trying to fix the broken component in Party's back, and had even found and repaired a loose connection that none of them had known about before; a long red wire, hanging loosely by a bundle of other long red wires, all connected to another small circuit board that had made Party's entire body twitch when Jet had tapped at it with his screwdriver.

Now that he was seemingly fixed, they had no way of making sure that in fixing him Jet hadn't also damaged anything else, so Kobra had had the idea of trying an old style 'Sobriety Test', checking Party's motor skills.

Everything with Party seemed perfectly okay, leaving just one check left.

"Okay, guys," Kobra looked at Jet and Ghoul, who were sat either side of him, with Party stood in front of the trio, "This part might be a bit... Jarring. I know it freaked me out a bit when I first had to do it, so... I don't know," he stood up, "Prepare yourselves, I guess?"

Jet and Ghoul looked at one another. Jet seemed worried but intrigued none the less, but Ghoul was just worried. The way that Kobra had used the word 'jarring' suggested that one of the two newcomers was about to do something that might scare them, and this did not prepare Ghoul in the slightest.

Kobra stood up and moved to stand in front of Party, one hand holding a pencil, poised over the page of a notebook on a nearby table, his other hand placed over Party's collarbone, resting his thumb just below his throat, feeling around for a moment and pressing down on a button hidden beneath his synthetic skin.

Party's face instantly lost all emotion and his arms hung stiffly at his side. Kobra then said, loudly and clearly,

"State, battery function efficiency."

Party's mouth began to move, doing nothing more than monotonically reporting exactly what Kobra had just requested.

"Battery function efficiency. Current power level, seventeen point eight five seven one percent. Current power useage, zero point seven one four two percent per hour. Battery last changed, sixty nine hours ago."

As Party's mouth robotically spewed out these words and numbers, Kobra scribbled them down into his notebook. Once the droid had stopped reporting the facts and figures of his internal functions, Kobra removed his hand from Party's collarbone, and all animation returned to his body, his eyes shifting, shoulders slumping and arms jolting as he seemingly regained consciousness.

"You okay?" Kobra asked, not moving from in front of Party, arms held up as though the redhead might collapse onto him.

"I'm okay, yeah. I'm fine." Party swallowed hard and nodded, shutting his eyes for a few moments. He glanced over Kobra's shoulder at Jet and Ghoul, and seemed to shy away a little.

Ghoul was a little shaken, having never seen any droid, porno or otherwise, act in such a way. They had always seemed so human it was a little bit of a shock to the system, just as it must have been for Party himself.

"Sorry you had to see that. I know how weird it might seem, but it's weird for me too. I'm fine though, don't worry."

"That's... It's not  _weird_ , it's..." Jet pulled a face as he tried to think of a good word, but ended up resorting back to what Kobra had said, "Jarring. It's literally just jarring. You seem so human, normally. If I hadn't just been fixing your insides I'd think you were just like, a normal human person."

Party kicked his foot against the ground, disturbing some dust.

"Just because I'm a droid doesn't mean I'm not a person."

Jet's eyes widened in shock and embarrassment, "No, no! I just mean- I'm not saying you're  _not_ -"

"Anyway-" Ghoul cut in, stopping Jet from making any more of a fool of himself, "What do you think that wire was for?"

"I don't know," Party shrugged, "It could just be part of my battery power problem- What're the numbers for that?" He looked across at Kobra, who was sat on the edge of the table, leaning his notebook on his thigh as he scribbled hastily.  
"Um, I  _think,_ " he scratched his head with the end of the pencil, frowning down at the page, "You should be okay. Your battery usage per hour is lower than before, which means that everything  _should_ be working normally again," he looked up half shrugged, "If it's not, then we're going to need more batteries because you're not going to last. Four hours powered down every day should be enough to make a battery last for one week, and your battery should last for another twenty five hours."

"Where do you get batteries from anyway?" Ghoul asked, knowing that finding a good supply of batteries in the Zones was almost completely reliant on being best friends with Tommy Chow Mein, but then that was also reliant on being Dr Death-Defying.

Party smiled and walked over, sitting down between Ghoul and Jet, where Kobra had been sat before, "We stocked up in the Lobby just before we left. Kobra has a Vend-A-Hack so it didn't even cost anything."

"Hey, Party," Kobra called across the room, "That red wire, I don't think it was battery related."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean," he shrugged, "You couldn't see the way everything was joined up in there. I think it's to do with your..." he paused, thinking, waving a hand around as he searched for the word, "Nervous system. Like your nerves, your sensors. Remember how you twitched when Jet tapped the metal parts? I'm pretty sure that piece of circuit board and all the red wires are the droid equivalent of a spinal cord."

Party leaned back on the seat and raised his eyebrows, "Whoa... I've never seen what my insides look like, or any droids insides for that matter... I know I'm all wires and metal parts but I wonder how I look inside compared to you guys?"

"Well none of us are about to cut you open to see what your insides look like, okay?" 

Party laughed at Jet's remark, "Glad to hear it!"

"So," Ghoul frowned, looking between the two brothers, "What're you gonna do about batteries now?"

"I guess we're gonna have to go trading after the storm's passed," Party shrugged, "I mean, the storm's probably completely ruined our bike, so we could always trade the parts off of that for batteries? I dunno, but if my power usage really is back to normal, after changing my battery tomorrow I'll have enough batteries to last three weeks, so we have some time."

"We know of a few traders that'll have batteries, we can travel out to see them."

Everyone looked at Jet, who had made the offer, somewhat surprised.

"You'd do that?" Kobra asked, raising an eyebrow, voicing what everyone else was thinking; why was Jet being so helpful?

"Yeah? Look, I know I was a bit of an ass yesterday, but in fairness, I had no fucking clue who you were and suddenly we were trapped in here with you. You could have been anyone, or done anything, but obviously I trust you now."

"Good," Party said sternly, "Because considering I was a damaged droid and Kobra was practically unconscious,  _we_ didn't  _have_ a choice," he smiled sarcastically and placed a hand on Jet's shoulder, "But I'm so happy that you, the well-built man with the upper hand, decided to trust  _us_."

Jet frowned, ashamed, and shrugged off Party's hand.

"Okay, I'm an asshole. Got it."

"You  _were_  an asshole," Party smiled, sincerely this time, "But really, thank you for helping us. It means a lot to me." He leaned towards Jet, hugging him around his shoulders. Ghoul caught the way Jet froze, not sure what was going on, and had to try not to laugh.

"What..."

Party sat back, taking his arms back from Jet's shoulders, and apologised, "Sorry, I figured a hug would be okay."

"No, no, i-it's okay, I just wasn't expecting it."

 

Kobra looked up from his notebook and added, "It really does mean a lot, to both of us. I might be dead by now if it hadn't been for you two."

Party pulled a face, half frowning, half shocked, and glared at Kobra, "Kobra, that's a little morbid."

"It's also true."

"Yes, but it was kind of implied that things would have gone badly if they hadn't helped us."

Kobra frowned, "I think that me being dead is a little more than 'things going badly'."

Party continued to stare in disbelief at Kobra, mouth hanging open. He looked at Ghoul, who couldn't help but at laugh at the bizarre expression, as Jet smirked and shook his head.

 

\---*---

 

Ghoul had been peacefully sleeping, just on the cusp of a dream, but found himself being gently shaken awake, a soft voice calling his name as he blinked his eyes open and rejoined the real world.

"Ghoul... Please, wake up..."

Looking into the darkness through his tired eyes, Ghoul could pick out the slight yellow glow of Party's eyes, watching him from above. 

The droid was sat on the floor beside his and Jet's mattress, his hand resting on Ghoul's upper arm, shaking him and trying to rouse him from sleep.

"Party?" His voice was croaky and dry, but he knew that he had to stay awake now, "What's wrong, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fine..." Party sounded panicked, and Ghoul didn't quite believe that he actually was fine.

"Why'd you wake me up?"

Ghoul sat up and tried to make out Party's face in the dark, but still couldn't distinguish anything other than his eyes. Reaching across to where he knew his lamp was sat, he turned it on, keeping the light dim, and placing it between the two of them.

Party really did look worried, and the redhead sighed, knowing that the game was up.

"I... I'm scared. I don't want to power down."

Ghoul scratched the back of his head as he sat up, wrapping his blanket around his shoulders to keep himself warm.

"Why're you scared?"

"'Cause..." Party frowned and looked down at his hands, his fingers playing with the loose threads on the bottoms of his grey jeans, "I haven't powered down in weeks, and now that I can, I'm worried that I'll break in my sleep. And that I won't power on again."

Ghoul sighed, not really knowing what to do. Ultimately he wanted to give Party a hug; he didn't know why, but he desperately wanted to comfort and look after him, and hold him til he fell asleep, but it didn't work like that.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Well, how does a power down work?"

"Um... It's kind of like a prolonged restart. I set an internal timer to power on in however many hours, and then I like... Shut down."

"Well, if your systems aren't running, how can anything break?"

"I... Hm," Party paused, "I guess... I guess they can't?"

"You'll be okay. I guess you're just worried because it's been so long."

Party glanced up at Ghoul, smiling slightly, but quickly looked away again. Despite the fact that Party was legitimately worried about this, Ghoul couldn't help but find his nerves endearing.

"Do you, like... Want me to sit with you? Until you power down?"

Party looked back up at him, glowing eyes wide and surprised as one of his tiny, sweet smiled twitched at his lips. He nodded silently, his hair falling in his face from where it had been, tucked behind his ear.

"That'd be nice, actually. Yes please."

"Okay," Ghoul gathered his blanket around him and stood up, "Come on, I'll sit by your side of the mattress."

The two of them walked around to the mattress that Party was supposed to have been sharing with Kobra.

The redhead lay down, pulling his blanket over him (only out of convention) while Ghoul sat down on the floor beside him.

Party reached out a hand, silently asking for Ghoul to hold it, which the dark haired man gladly did. Ghoul could still pick out the gentle glow of Party's eyes, watching the yellow narrow down to slim lines and widen again each time he blinked.

"So... Can you power down whenever you want?" Ghoul asked, keeping his voice low so as to not wake either of the others.

"Yeah, but once I've powered down, I don't power back on until my internal timer runs out," Party's voice was soft and high as he whispered, "But Kobra's set my timer for just four hours so I won't be asleep for too long."

Ghoul thought for a moment, absentmindedly brushing his thumb back and forth across the back of Party's hand. Then, he had to ask, "Is it like sleeping? When you power down, I mean?"

Party pursed his lips and scrunched his eyebrows before answering.  
"I don't know, what's it like to sleep?"

That was a question Ghoul had never thought about, and most certainly had never been asked before. He'd never  _had_  to think about it, so there was a long silence as he considered how to answer.

"I guess... It's like a really long blink? But you, like, lose awareness of your body? You just retreat into your mind, and you dream. And sometimes dreams are just like pictures being played out in your head, and sometimes it's like you're there, and they feel almost real. But not everyone dreams, and not everyone's dreams are in colour. And some people used to think that dreams mean things, like your deepest fears and feelings, or even what the future might be."

He looked back at Party, who was smiling, watching Ghoul in wonder and delight as he spoke.

"Wow... That sounds beautiful," Party whispered, marvelling at the idea of sleep and dreaming.

"Not all dreams are nice though," Ghoul reasoned, "Some are, like, genuinely terrifying. It's usually little kids who have bad dreams though. They're called nightmares."

Party frowned, "The kids, or the bad dreams?"

Ghoul laughed softly, "The bad dreams. But most dreams are good."

"What are good dreams called then?"

Ghoul realised that good dreams weren't called anything other than what they are; good dreams.

"They don't have their own name. They're just called dreams. But people sometimes say 'sweet dreams' to each other just before they sleep, just as a nice thing to do."

"Oh okay," Party smiled and pulled his blanket up over his shoulder, his other hand still resting in Ghoul's, "I'm gonna power down now. I'm sorry for waking you up, I feel a bit silly now."

"It's alright. I, uh... I sometimes have nightmares and wake Jet up, so don't feel too bad. These things happen."

"Will you tell me if you have a dream?"

"Uh, sure?" Ghoul thought it was a little weird but he guessed there were some things that an artificial brain couldn't replicate, so droids were bound to have questions about life as a true flesh-and-blood human.

"Sweet dreams, Ghoul," Party whispered, shutting his eyes as the light behind them dimmed to nothing, having finally powered down for the first time in two and a half months.

Ghoul stayed there, holding Party's hand as he pseudo-slept. He wrapped his blanket tighter around him and leaned back against the old cushioned diner seat behind him, and drifted off to sleep again.


	8. Sandstruck

Despite the cold desert night, and the fact he'd fallen asleep sat up next to Party, Ghoul was comfortably warm. It seemed like all their talk of dreams and nightmares had chased them all away and, if he had dreamt at all, he'd completely forgotten when he woken up.

It wasn't Party who woke him, and it wasn't even Jet or Kobra; it was a loud smash, accompanied with a clatter and sound of lots of small things hitting the ground.

He jolted upright, almost overbalancing from his position on the floor, at the sudden noise, seeing Kobra and Jet also jolt awake through his tired bleary eyes.

It took him a moment to gauge exactly where he was and what was going on, but Jet was already off of his mattress and brandishing his gun.

"What the  _fuck_  was that?" Kobra asked, rolling over and out from underneath his blanket.

A scarlet blur went across the room from Ghoul's peripheral vision, as Party walked from the old diner seats in the direction of the smash.

He stopped in the middle of the room, turning around and calling into the back room, "A rock just came in through the window!"

Ghoul was too tired to jump up into action like Jet had, and before Ghoul could even think about standing up, the other three were on their feet, panicking about what to do.

"A... A rock? Did someone throw it?"

"Who would be out in this weather?" Jet shouted in reply to Ghoul, "It's just the storm."

Ghoul knew he had to try and help; he could hear the wind whistling through the shattered pane, probably blowing sand, gravel, and shards of glass across the floor of the diner.

"Okay, right..." Ghoul struggled to his feet and stretched his arms out, shrugging off his blanket, "I'll go find some duct tape and cardboard."

Ghoul knew exactly where the duct tape and cardboard were for just such an emergency. They'd had stones through the windows before - not many, but enough to mean that duct tape and cardboard were necessary items to keep handy.

Ghoul walked through the kitchen area to the door that lead to the garage, where the Trans Am lived. inside the dark of the garage, on a low shelf, were several pieces of old cardboard box, all cut to the perfect size to cover up a pane of glass in one of the diner windows. There were also several rolls of duct tape, for all kinds of uses, but they were kept with the cardboard just for ease of access.  
  


The broken window pane was at one of the highest points on the window, grit still flying in, with stones and glass strewn across the floor that Jet was unsuccessfully trying to sweep up, while Kobra and Party were just kind of stood there, clearly unsure of what to do to help the situation.

"Can you get that blocked up?" Jet yelled, over the sound of the storm raging outside.

"Yeah, I'm on it!" Ghoul called back, as he clambered onto the table nearest the broken window, reaching up as he tried to tape the cardboard over the hole.

This, of course, proved to be a lot more difficult that he had expected, as the wind was still forcing its way inside and raining down all manner of grit onto the tables, seats, floor and, worst of all, Ghoul's face.

While trying to tape the cardboard to the window frame and simultaneously not look at what he was doing, Ghoul managed to stare the storm right in the face, and the storm stared back, flicking sand right into his eye.

"Crap!"

"What?" Party asked, stood just behind the table

"Sand in my eye," Ghoul replied through gritted teeth, keeping his one painful eye shut as he squinted through the other, trying to tape down the last edge on the window pane, "Hang on, I can do this."

"Are you sure?" Party sounded concerned, but all Ghoul could do was nod as he secured the cardboard.

"Yeah, done now anyway," Ghoul shuffled back away from the window, everything sounding eerily quiet now that the sandstorm whistle was gone from inside of the diner. Hopping down from the table, Ghoul practically landed in the arms of Party, the droid taking him by surprise.

"Let me check your eye."

Ghoul was, understandably, taken aback, and quickly replied, "No it's fine, I can just splash some water in it."

"Ghoul, please," Party held onto his arms, holding Ghoul in place between him and the table.

Ghoul didn't protest this time, he just mumbled an 'Okay' and waited for Party to do what he said he would.

Moving his hands from Ghoul's arms and up to his face, Party gently pulled down the dark haired man's eyelid, instructing him to look up as he checked for the tiny grains that were causing him so much pain.

Party used one hand to steady Ghoul's face, cradling his jaw, his thumb resting on his cheek. The fingers of his other hand rested on Ghoul's cheek as his thumb pulled down his lower eyelid.

Ghoul had never had anyone hold his face in such a way, but still it gave him some kind of deja vu, like the ghost of a memory that made his insides tingle despite the pain.

"Hold still," Party said very softly, moving a finger from Ghoul's cheek and gently sweeping it across the inside of Ghoul's undereye, catching the grains of sand on his fingertip and wiping them onto his palm, then sweeping across again and releasing Ghoul's face.

"I think I got most of it, but you may still want to wash your eye out with water."

"I was going to rinse it with water anyway," Ghoul replied, feeling a little dazed over the top of the eye pain.

"Well now you can rinse it and be more sure of getting everything out," Party smiled, still standing close enough that Ghoul could make out the tiny little lines in his faded yellow irises.

"Thank you," Ghoul smiled, trying not to rub his eye for fear that there was still more sand in it.

"You're welcome." Party smiled his sweet, beaming smile, "Do you need any help washing your eye?"  
"Uh, no, I can manage."  
"You sure?"  
"Yeah," Ghoul smiled nervously, "Thanks."

Ghoul wandered off, back into the backroom, looking for water. He was nervous about using their drinking water to wash his eye, but he didn't want to take the risk of permanent damage. Searching out his water bottle from the previous day, he drank most of what was left, leaving about a centimetre of water in the bottom. He placed the rim of the bottle around his eye and, holding it securely in place, tipped his head back.  
The water flooded around his eye as he blinked rapidly, trying to wash away anything unwanted from under his eyelid, the liquid feeling cool and strange.  
He tipped his head back upright, taking the bottle away and making an effort not to spill anything. His eye still stung, but Ghoul couldn't feel any foreign object still lodged on there, so he was satisfied with the rinse.

"You okay?" Jet's voice called through the diner, echoing off every surface.  
"Yeah, I'm good," Ghoul called back, unsure of what to do with the now tainted dregs of water, "You need any help out there?"  
"Nah, we've got it!"

Glad that the minor disaster was over, Ghoul flopped down into a diner seat, gently patting his eye dry with the cuff of his sleeve.  
Party came back in again, dusting off his hands on his jeans but still smiling.

"Better?"  
"Much, yeah. Thanks.. Again." He nodded, followed by a yawn.  
"Are you still tired?" Party laughed as he came and sat down on the nearby mattress. Ghoul nodded in response again.  
"Four hours might be enough power down time for you, but not for me."  
Party bunched up his shoulders, his hands tucked between his knees, "I'm sorry for waking you up last night. I should have just powered down and dealt with it like a normal... Well, a normal droid."  
"No, no, it's okay," Ghoul waved a dismissive hand, "Really, it's fine. I know what it's like to be scared of sleeping. It might not be the same thing but I understand."

"Did you have a dream while you slept?"

"I didn't, actually," he shrugged, "Sorry to disappoint."

Party looked across the diner and called out, "Kobra?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you have any dreams last night?"

He thought for a moment and frowned, "Yeah, but I can't remember any of it."

"Then how do you know you had a dream?"   
"I just do."

Party looked thoughtful for a moment, then turned in the direction of Jet.  
  


"How about you?"  
"Hm?" Jet wandered into the back room from the front of the diner, tossing the stone that had been catapulted through the window from hand to hand.

"Did you have a dream last night?"

He paused his stone throwing and stopped still, "Yeah, why?"

"What was it like?"

Jet remained still, looking from Party, to Kobra, to Party, to Ghoul, and back to Party. He looked at the droid suspiciously and narrowed his eyes a little.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Ghoul told me about dreams and I want to know what they're like."

"Right..." Jet continued to eye him distrustingly and made to walk away into the kitchen but stopped when Party called out to him.

"Wait! What was your dream about?"

"'S none of your business."

"Hey, come on," Ghoul sighed, "You don't need to be rude."

"Yeah, well," Jet shifted from foot to foot, puffing out his chest a little and giving the three of them a stern look as he said, "Not everyone's dream are family friendly, alright?"

He looked annoyed, but also embarrassed, which wasn't something Ghoul had seen in Jet before, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Getting a lil' subconscious x-rated action, were we?"

"Not to be an asshole, but it is really  _none_  of your fucking business."

"Ooh, okay, Mr. Touchy," Ghoul laughed, fully aware that if there weren't other people around to pass judgement, his comments would have earnt him a very serious smack. Jet scowled and walked off, footfalls loud as he angrily stomped through the kitchen and into the garage.

While Ghoul laughed to himself, Kobra and Party exchanged a worried look before Kobra asked, "Is he usually this aggressive?"

"Aggressive? No, that's just him pissed off. You don't ever wanna be on the receiving end of Jet's aggression, I've seen him straight up smash a Drac's head against a wall, it was nasty."

"Oh..." Party pulled a worried face, "But he seemed so nice yesterday."

"He is! He wouldn't hurt any of us, the only things he's ever killed are Drac's because it's been them or us," Ghoul turned to the both of them, seeing the same bothered look on both of their faces; he could really see why it had been easy for them to pass themselves off as brothers when they were showing the exact same emotion.

"You guys haven't been in a clap yet, have you? You've not even one."

Kobra shook his head, "No, none. The crew we were with spoke about a few they'd been in but it didn't seem like a big deal to them."  
Ghoul pointed at him, "Exactly. I bet you they killed every single one of those BL motherfuckers they ever met, but that's how it is out here. You two need to understand that if we end up facing off with Drac's it's kill or be killed. And," he looked directly into Party's eyes, "I'm sorry, but you'll be their main target if they realise you're a droid. How are you two with shooting?"

They shared a look and Kobra frowned, "I've not actually used a gun yet."

"Wh- Not even for target practice?"

He sighed and frowned even harder, not even attempting to make eye contact, "I don't... I feel like as soon as I fire a gun, I'll be corrupted. I don't want to be a killer."

Ghoul could relate to Kobra's fear. The first time he'd killed a Drac, it had weighed on his conscience for days, until the next time he had to kill one; it had been far too much of a close call for him to feel bad about it, and once he knew it really was a matter of shoot or die he made the choice to not let it affect him anymore. He couldn't let it affect him, it was the kind of thing that would drive a person insane.

"Look, Kid, out here it's just one of those things you have to do. If you...  _When_  you come face to face with a Drac or Exterminator, you haveto shoot them or they willshoot you. It'll probably eat you up inside for a few days but it's something you've gotta live with. I... I'm sorry. It's guilt or death."

Kobra continued to frown at the floor, silent for a few moments, before glaring at Ghoul and saying in a surprisingly stern voice, "You don't get to tell me how I should live. And you don't get to call me 'Kid' like you're my superior."

Without another word, Kobra had stood up and walked away, around the corner and into the front of the diner. There wasn't really anywhere for him to go, so Ghoul assumed he was just going to go and sulk in one of the booths.

He looked at Party, like he might hold some answers, but he looked about as surprised as Ghoul felt.

"Right..." Ghoul sighed, "Uh... Sorry, I-I guess? Um..."  
Party relaxed and reached across, resting his hand over Ghoul's, "It's alright. I'll go and talk to him, I'm sure he's okay. You should go and talk to Jet," he gave Ghoul's hand a gentle squeeze and stood up, "I don't think he's in a good mood, either."

Ghoul watched the droid walk away, only slightly distracted by the way Party swung his hips as he walked, and then rose to his feet and headed towards the kitchen.

In the garage, Jet was tinkering with boxes on the shelves, not seeming to be doing much other than checking the contense before placing them back in their places. He was just trying to look busy, but Ghoul knew that Jet knew he was there.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

Jet flinched slightly, perhaps not expecting Ghoul to say anything, and turned around. He still looked fairly annoyed but said nothing, waiting for Ghoul to carry on with his apology.

"I'm sorry for, like, embarrassing you or whatever. But we've gotta get use to those guys. They're sticking with us for a few weeks at least, we're all gonna be up in each other's space all the time, and they're fresh out of the city. They're bound to have questions."

Jet leaned back against the workbench, looking down at something in his hand, and sighed. He shook his head and looked at Ghoul, eyes looking like he was dealing with some kind of pain.

"It's messing with my fucking head, man," he sighed, throwing the object he was holding onto the workbench; an old City battery, "You've gotta be seeing it? Like, out of the two of us,  _you_ have  _got_ to be seeing it?"

"Seeing what?" Ghoul walked over, picking up the battery and turning it over in his hands. It was dead, corroded down the back and completely useless. He looked up at Jet, his face half hidden behind his hair but expression still clear; furrowed brows and a stiff lip, a mix of thinking and annoyance. It was a look of confliction.

"The way Party...  _is._  The way he's... He looks, and walks, and just... It's not right."

"What the fuck? What do you mean, not right?"

Ghoul knew that Jet was wary of anyone and anything from the City; he'd been raised that way and even though he knew he needed to be less judgemental it was a hard habit to kick. But right now he wasn't sure if he was reading this situation right... Was Jet really saying that Party's autonomy as a pornodroid was wrong?

Jet growled out of frustration and kicked the shelf, making everything rattle and scaring Ghoul. He walked to the other side of the room and back again, all the while pulling at his hair. Ghoul could do nothing but watch as Jet walked around the Trans Am, kicking one of the wheels and punching the bonnet before storming back over to him.

"Seriously?" Jet cried, waving one arm around while still pulling his hair with the other, "You can't see it? Mr I'd-Rail-Pony-Harder-Than-A-Train? Jesus fucking..." he sighed and took a few steps back, realising that he'd backed Ghoul into a corner with his yelling and flailing.

"He... Party,  _he_  was who was in my dream. He's... He's beautiful, and it's fucking with my head!"


	9. Five Step Program

Ghoul had spent the whole rest of the day exhausted. He'd only had about seven hours of sleep, at the most, when he needed at least eight. This was of course, only when the situation permitted it, but seeing as they were stuck inside, trapped by a sandstorm, they were fairly safe for now. Plus, with a droid who was awake twenty hours of the day, they other three had someone who could keep watch while they slept.

The only reason he hadn't decided to have a nap was what Jet had told him. Beyond admitting he'd had a sex dream about Party Poison, he hadn't really said or explained anything else. Until then, Ghoul hadn't really noticed anything about the way Party carried himself. 

But then he did; he thought about the way Party had opened up to him on that first night, how Party had been okay with having Ghoul's arm around him, the way he'd wanted Ghoul to hold his hand when he'd had his wires checked, and how he'd come to Ghoul when he'd been too scared to sleep. He thought about how Party seemed to save his brightest smiles for Ghoul, how he seemed too pretty and unique to have been made in a factory, and how he'd held Ghoul's face that day as he'd helped to clear his eye of sand. It all made his heart race in a way he hadn't felt in years.

Then he started thinking about Party's hips and the way they swayed when he walked and very quickly Ghoul realised that he was probably in about as deep as Jet was.

Of course Jet had been freaking out, though; Jet was straight, or had at least thought he was. Ghoul was as gay as the day was long, so perhaps those feeling were so much more natural that he hadn't noticed the way they'd crept up on him. But now, between realising that yeah, Party was attractive, and accidentally thinking too much about what Jet and Party might be like together in bed, Ghoul was also starting to freak out.

 

In the afternoon, Kobra had decided that, just to be safe, he should change Party's battery before it ran out completely. Naturally, this interested Ghoul and Jet; after the previous day's experience of watching Party be voided of all human emotion to check his power level, they wanted to witness what happened when his battery was removed.

Party was sat backwards on a chair, shirtless again, as Kobra sat behind him. The well camouflaged battery compartment on Party's back was open, the palm-sized battery exposed, while Kobra held a new one in his hand.

"You know," Kobra mumbled to the other two who were stood either side of him, watching over his shoulder, "This kind of fascination is bordering on morbid curiosity. It feels kind of voyeuristic, and I'm not even the one with my shirt off."

Jet stood back and stammered for a moment, almost walking away before saying quietly, "I just want to see how it works."

" _It_  has a name, thank you," Party said over his shoulder, his head slumping back over as he leaned on the back of the chair.

"No, no! I don't mean  _you_ , I mean the  _battery_."

Kobra looked back at Ghoul, who'd been quiet until now, waiting to hear why he was so interested.

"Oh, uh..." his face began to heat up and he only hoped he wasn't obviously blushing, "I'm genuinely worried something might go wrong. Not in a morbid way, in a... 'I'm worried' kinda way."

Apparently satisfied with his answer, Kobra turned back to Party and reached for the still-in-use battery, holding the sides of it carefully and lifting it out. 

The battery pack was attached by a clip connector, the red and black wires feeding back inside of him and to the rest of his wiring.

Kobra gently rested the connected battery on his knee, the new one clasped tightly in his right hand.

"You ready?"

"Yeah," Party replied simply, slumping himself as much as he could over the back of the seat, "Just please be careful about it."

"I will, don't worry." Kobra smiled, picking up the battery in his free hand and took hold of the clip connector.

Pulling at one side of the connector, Kobra popped it off and immediately reconnected it to the right side of the new battery. He paused his actions, looking up at Party and asking, "You good?"

"Yeah," Party's voice sounded strained, as though he were in pain, "Just get it over with."

Kobra nodded, not that Party could see him, and took hold of the clip connector once more. Just as quickly as before he unclipped the second connector from the old battery and reconnected it to the new one. 

As soon as the new battery was completely connected, Party's body jolted. Ghoul and Jet now understood why he was leaning so far forwards, as when he jolted, his body swung backwards, as though he was sitting up, but unnaturally fast. Kobra's hands shot up, held out as though prepared to stop Party if he fell back too far, but almost as fast as he rose up, he slumped against the seat again.

"The hell was that?" 

Everyones eyes were immediately on Jet, who had made the remark. Party sat up, his battery still hanging out of his back.

"It was a power surge. happens when I go from a low charge battery to a fully charged one."

"Hold still," Kobra muttered to his brother, "I need to put your battery back in."

Carefully replacing the battery back in its compartment, Kobra covered the space with the hard plastic cover and closed the silicone hatch that was cut into Party's back.

It was so seamless Ghoul would be totally incapable of locating the battery pack if he hadn't been shown it before. It wasn't nearly as jarring of an experience as his power level check had been, but seeing part of his inner workings was just as strange of an experience.

Weirdly, it almost upset Ghoul, and he had to take a step back from the group.

No one noticed though, as Party put his grey tank top back on and stood up.

"Right, we're gonna have to do a power check again in about an hour," Kobra frowned, grabbing his notebook and opening it to the last used paged and scribbling something down, "Jet, do you know what time it is?"

Jet caught himself staring and blinked rapidly before spinning around, looking for any kind of sunlight on the floor. He caught it coming in through one of the side windows and stared at it for a moment, thinking silently.

"Uh, it's about four thirty? Somewhere between four and five."

"Thanks," Kobra scribbled something else down in his notebook, "I promise you wont have to keep doing this. We have a solar powered clock in our bags so as soon as the storm's over we can know the exact time."

"Good good," Jet smiled, stepping away as Party stood up, crowding the space in which they were stood a little more, "Well, seeing as it's nearly evening, shall I go look what kinda dinner I can make us?"

Ghoul, not wanting to be left alone with Party and really needing to talk to Jet, jumped at the chance to leave the room and do something else.

"You need help with that?" he called after Jet, who was already halfway to the kitchen.

"Uh, nah," Jet shook his head, clearly not catching onto Ghoul's desperation, "Oh, but you can go look for games? I'm pretty sure we have some boardgames in the garage? There might be a few pieces missing but we can just use nuts and bolts or something."

"Sure. But," he made his stare more intense and gritted his teeth, "Are you  _sure_  you don't  _need help_?" He twitched his head in the direction of the kitchen and raised his eyebrows, waiting for Jet to get it.

The realisation passed over his face and his mouth formed a silent 'oh' as his eyebrows raised in response.

"Uh, a-actually, yeah. Yeah, come on."

Ignoring the strange looks from Party and Kobra, the two of them headed out into the kitchen, and right through into the garage, as far away from listening ears as possible.

Ghoul walked to the far side of the room and leaned against the bench, quickly hitting it and turning to Jet, who was patiently waiting for his crew mate to say what he needed to say.

"Fucking dammit. I can see it. I get it now."  
He quirked an eyebrow, "You do? You're not just saying it to, I dunno, make me feel better?"  
He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, "Nope. The more I thought about what you'd pointed out, the more I was like, 'Damn it, he's right'. Like... Shit dude," he hauled himself up to sit on the edge of the bench, "He's hot, and he's really sweet, and cute and... And this is gonna be a fucking problem."  
"It better not be a problem! I'm not gonna let it be a problem," Jet looked affronted, struggling not to raise his voice, "Are you gonna let it be a problem?"  
"Fuck no! But... Jet, buddy, if we're gonna let them stick with us, we've either got to get over it or tell him. These things always get out of you just bottle them up."

Jet looked aghast, "I'm not telling him! I'm not..."

He petered off and Ghoul was left to fill in the blank.

"Not  _gay_ , right?"

"I'm not," he held up his hands and shrugged, "I've not... I've never been attracted to a guy before. Party's just... I just think he's shiny. I don't know," he scratched the back of his head, struggling with his words and thoughts, "Maybe I just like him 'cause he looks like a girl?"  
"You are kidding yourself if you think he looks like a girl. He looks like a pretty boy and we both know it. Admit you're attracted to him."

"I have! I already have and it's fucking weird and I don't like it."

Ghoul didn't know what else to say, and clapped Jet on the arm, settling with, "That sounds like a 'you' problem."

Jet looked from his arm, where Ghoul had tapped him, to Ghoul himself, and scowled.

"Are you really just gonna leave me with that? You've not got any words of wisdom? Advice? Anything?"

"Nope. This is your gay awakening, it's something you have to deal with yourself."

Jet looked ready to hit him back but Ghoul just held up his hands, "This isn't me being unhelpful, that's genuine advice. No one can tell you how you're supposed to feel about who. All I can say is that first things first, you need to be honest with yourself about your feelings. It's like the five stages of grief."

"The five...?" Jet was puzzled for a moment, then he sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, "How is it like grief?"  
"Well, first there's denial, or ' _I'm not gay_ '," Ghoul did his best impression of Jet and waggled his hands around, imitating Jet's earlier panic, "Then there's anger, like before, when you were all ' _can't you see it_ '. Then there's bargaining, which is where you're at now, I think. ' _Maybe it's just 'cause he's pretty and looks like a girl_ '. You're bargaining, making excuses. Next is depression, then acceptance," Ghoul sighed, "Frankly, I'm impressed how fast you've gone through those first three stages in one day."

"How long does it normally take?"

He scoffed, "Dude, I went back and forth between denial, anger, bargaining and depression for fucking years in the City. There's no fascist regimes out here so you only need to worry about you accepting yourself."

"And Party."

"You don't have to tell him."

"I want to though."

"That's up to you," Ghoul hopped down off the bench and gently punched Jet's arm, "But you need to be careful. He's really fucking pretty, but he's really sweet and naive, and he's a pornodroid, so don't go taking advantage of him."


	10. Curious Cat

The rest of the evening had gone without incident, but Ghoul couldn't help but notice that, as well as Jet being being more reserved, Party was a little quiet too. Kobra was giving everyone strange looks the entire time they sat playing board games, and Ghoul was left to assume that everyone could feel the tense energy coming from Jet that was filling the space between them all.

Mostly, it was a friendly affair though. They'd explained the rules of Monopoly to Party as they'd played, and at one point Kobra had joked that he could hear Party's circuits whirring as he tried to remember the rules of the game.

Night fell fast again, the sand still blocking out far more light than usual for the clear desert sky. Regardless of the time, the three of them who were capable of feeling tired were indeed tired, and they had decided to call it a night.

Despite being so exhausted, Ghoul couldn't sleep. He was comfortable and warm, and definitely tired, but he just couldn't sleep. Sharing a mattress with Jet meant he couldn't move around too much for fear of waking him up, so he was left to lay still, staring at the wall, waiting to pass out.

He knew wasn't the only one still awake.

Party hadn't powered down yet, and was pacing around the room. He was on the furthest side of the room, far from Ghoul, thankfully, but his presence was making Ghoul a little unsettled.

He footsteps were light and regular, like the ticking of a clock - something that Ghoul hadn't heard for a quite a while.

After some time, the pacing stopped, and Ghoul listened as Party sat down and sighed.

His heart rate picked up as he heard something else that he hadn't expected.

"Are you done now?" Kobra said, his voice quiet, but not so quiet that Ghoul couldn't hear him clearly.

"Yeah, sorry."

"What's on your mind?"

There was the sound of footsteps again, then the movement of sheets as Party lay down next to Kobra on their mattress.

"What do you think dreams are?"

Kobra sighed, thinking for a moment before answering, "I think they're subconscious thoughts that manifest as hallucinations when you're asleep, when your mind is otherwise unoccupied."

"Kobra," Ghoul could almost hear the eyeroll in Party's voice, "I mean, do you think they have a deeper meaning at all?"

"I guess... Maybe? I mean, they're subconscious thoughts, so they're usually based around things you've seen or heard during the day that your conscious mind didn't pick up on. Also thoughts that you've had yourself that your mind hasn't deemed important enough to take notice of."

"So dreams could be about things you're worried about, or things that you want, even if you don't realise it?"

"Possibly, but dreams are very strange things and don't always make sense, so it would be hard to decipher any kind of meaning from them... Why're you asking about dreams?"

"Just something Ghoul said last night."

"Hm," Kobra hummed shortly, followed by, "You're odd with that guy. I've not seen you like this with other killjoys, what's so special about him?"

Silence fell again, filled only by a long sigh and the sound of movement.

"You know back in the City," Party started, changing the subject, "There was the Pairing Programme?"

"Yeah, everyone knew about it," Kobra replied, sounding unsure about the tangent that the conversation had taken.

Ghoul tried not to shiver as he remembered the Pairing Programme; The Pairing Programme was Battery City's twisted attempt at creating perfect people. Once a child turned eighteen, they were encouraged to join the Pairing Programme to find them a 'suitable mate'. This was only ever based on which school subjects they excelled in, pairing science students with science students, English students with English students, and so on, in the hopes that the children they would eventually have would be hyper intelligent.

Many people chose to take part, but many people were banned on 'medical' grounds, which, in Better Living's terms, meant anything from genetic diseases and abnormalities, to homosexuality. 

Naturally, Ghoul had been excluded from this programme, but even if he had been eligible, he would have opted out. It seemed so artificial and wrong he didn't want any part in it.

"Were you ever part of that?" Party asked, incredibly casually as though talking about life in the City was a normal occurrence between the two brothers.

"No. I almost was but I managed to opt out. What does this have to do with anything?"

"I've been thinking a lot, about dreams and about affection. What's it like to feel affection, specifically romantic affection?"

Ghoul completely froze, listening to Kobra move, sigh, and clear his throat.

"Feeling romantic affection is like... It's like a warm, fluttery, twisty feeling in your stomach. It's nice, and you want nothing more than to hug the other person and kiss them, and seeing them and having them give you attention just makes you smile as wide as your face allows you to. It's a really special thing."

Ghoul smiled, listening in on the conversation. Kobra had described it perfectly, but Ghoul couldn't think back to the last time someone had made him feel like that.

"And what's it like to kiss someone?"

"What th- Party," Kobra said sternly, "You're a pornodroid, you've kissed people. You know what it's like."

"No, I know what it's like to have strange men shove their tongues in my mouth. What is it like to kiss someone that you want affection from?"

Kobra sighed again, and there was the sound of movement as he rolled over, away from Party.

"I don't know. Can you stop with the questions now, please? I need to sleep and you need to power down. Another four hours, remember."

And with that, the room was silent again, leaving Ghoul to listen to his heart thrumming in his ears.

From the sounds of it, Party had never asked these kinds of things before. In nearly ten weeks of being out in the Zones with other killjoys - probably far more free-spirited and care-free killjoys than Ghoul and Jet - why hadn't Party thought about these things before, about dreams and love?

Now, in the silence and darkness, it was his own thoughts that were keeping Ghoul awake. He found himself thinking of kissing Party and showing him that kissing could be nice and not something that was just demanded of him. Ghoul felt almost guilty for thinking these things, but at the same time, the idea made him smile to himself.

It was with these thoughts that Ghoul finally found sleep, dreaming of soft lips pressed to his cheek.


	11. Earwig

When the zones were filled with as much static as they were, it was hard to know which frequencies would be used for broadcasting on any given day. This left Jet to fiddle with the dial of the radio, waiting for Dr Death-Defying's voice to crackle into clarity.

"As I live and breathe, that  _has_ to be one of the worst storms I have seen, and that's including when them Dracs kick up the dust. But happy spirits, we are blessed. I've heard news come in from Zone Six saying that the storm is near enough passed and y'all should be free to go and rain havoc in the Zones once more in a day or two. Now, don't get ahead of yourselves, mind. If you've gotta go out and the sky is still howling, then keep your pretty lil' faces covered. We don't want no injuries. I will say, I have missed my dear sweet Zone runners; and, if you're listening, babies, Daddy can't wait to have you all home again. Now over to my darling diamond, Hot Chimp, for your daily dose of delicious tunes."

"Finally!" Jet laughed, "We can probably head out tomorrow, start looking for batteries!"

"First things first," Kobra started, "We've got to get to our bike though, see how much stuff we can salvage from our bags."

"What about after that?"

They looked to Party, who was sat on the edge of a table, feet hanging limply as he looked around at the other three.

"After that, we go and trade with other killjoys and get batteries for you," Kobra replied plainly, "Jet just said."

Party frowned and shook his head, "No I mean... After that. Once we have batteries. Do we all just..." he shrugged, "Go our separate ways?"

All eyes were then on Jet, who looked a little stunned at the attention.

"Ah, well... Uh," Jet scratched his head, looking at the floor, " I-I mean... You guys, from what you've told us, it's a miracle you've lasted as long as you have out here. And if your bike's ruined... The Trans Am is a five seater, so it's not like we don't have room."

"Is that you offering to let us join you permanently?" Kobra raised an eyebrow, something like hope glimmering in his eye.

Jet raised his eyebrows and nodded, like it wasn't obvious, "Yeah! Of course! I don't want... If something happened to you guys, I'd feel responsible for not, like... Taking you in."

Party's eyes seemed to light up, possibly quite literally, as he smiled with glee at Jet's decision.

"You really mean it?"

"Yeah! Out here, there's strength in numbers, and I think... I think we make a great team, you're both pretty shiny. Kobra," he turned to the blond, "You seem to be great at math and, as a mechanic, you're the kind of guy I need on my team. And Party," Jet's smile softened in a way Ghoul had never seen before, "I think you need us, people who know electronics. We fixed wiring you didn't even know was broken! And we need you... You spend twenty hours out of every day awake, and having you keeping watch at night, it could be really great for my paranoia."

Jet had some great points, and Ghoul wasn't about to argue anything; Jet's paranoia was bad at the best of times, his hand always resting on his gun, finger twitching towards the trigger. Having someone watching over them all as the slept would be one of the best additions to their lives out in the zones.

"Also," Ghoul piped up, finally finding his voice, "How many killjoy clans and factions have you seen with less than three people? We always group together, it's only natural. Jet's right, we should stick together. It'd be best for all of us."

"So," Kobra looked around, one side of his mouth curling up, "That's that then? The two dangerous duos are now a fab four?"

"Yeah," Jet laughed, "But we've gotta come up with a better group name than just the  _fab four._ "

\---*---

Ghoul was sat in the back of the diner, passing the time stuck inside by patching up the holes in some of his clothes - his jacket, a pair of jeans, his one pair of good socks - but found it hard to concentrate with Party watching him curiously from the floor.

Jet and Kobra had been talking in the kitchen for a little while, mostly too quiet for Ghoul to hear, so when they finally came into the back room, Ghoul was thankful for the distraction from Party's close monitoring of his sewing.

"Hey, me and Kobra are just going out to the garage, I'm gonna show him the Trans Am, some of the tools and mechanic stuff I've got out there."

"Oh," Ghoul set down the sock he was darning and made to stand up, "You need any help?"

"No, we'll be fine. You stay in here," Jet smiled and looked across at Party with a soft look in his eyes, "Keep Party company."

Picking up the sock again, Ghoul sat back down, looking over at Party. The redhead was sat cross-legged on his mattress, flicking through the pages of an old magazine like he hadn't been staring at Ghoul the entire time they'd been in there. He glanced up and, seeing that Ghoul was looking back at him, flashed a tiny smile, before once again hiding behind his hair and looking back down at the magazine.

The pair stayed silent for a few long minutes, Ghoul feeling particularly tense and awkward, even if Party wasn't. He wanted to say something, about how he felt and maybe even about how Jet felt, seeing as it was now decided that the four of them would be staying together as a new group out in the zones. Ghoul didn't want Party thinking that he and Jet were only seeing him as a pornodroid, as an object, but he wasn't sure if it was a wise thing to do.

Ghoul looked over and found that Party had set down the magazine and was watching Ghoul patiently. He looked like he had something to say, so Ghoul decided to show he was listening now by setting down his sock and needle and looking over at Party, turning in his seat so his body too was facing the droid.

"I... I heard you yesterday. Talking to Jet."

Ghoul's stomach dropped and his blood ran cold. It felt like the edges of his vision were blurring as he looked at Party, his heart racing unpleasantly until he felt he had to look away.

"You did?"

Party nodded. Neither were sure what to say, and there was silence. during which time Ghoul hazarded a glance at Party. He was looking right back at him, his head titled slightly onto one side, looking like he was having an internal struggle of some kind.

Finally, he frowned, "I've had lots of men call me hot."

Ghoul thought he was going to be sick. He felt horrible, forgetting what he'd said to Jet the day before, now paranoid that he'd said some awful, objectifying things if Party was looking so sad about what he'd heard.

"But... I've never been called cute. Or sweet," a tiny smile crept onto his face, before being hidden behind a curtain of hair as he looked away shyly, "Those are probably some of the nicest things anyone's said about me."

Ghoul's heart continued to race, but saw that Party wasn't sad. He wasn't upset or angry, but was actually smiling. His face was red too, blush spreading over his cheeks and nose in a way that made Ghoul's stomach do a little somersault. 

He could feel his own face heating up as he realised that he was feeling love - or attraction, at least - for Party. He looked at Party again and suddenly he felt like he was sixteen, catching the eye of his crush across school canteen and realising that maybe life wasn't so bad.

"I think you're sweet too. And hot."

"I-I-Um... I thought... You didn't seem happy about us calling you hot."  
"It means 'sexually attractive', right?"

"I guess..."

"Then yeah, you're hot."

Party got to his feet and walked over, sitting down beside Ghoul and tentatively resting his hand in the space between them.

Ghoul had no words. He was suddenly hyper aware of his breathing, scared to take too deep of a breath in case it brought too much of Party's attention to him. He was very aware also of Party's presence next to him, almost feeling the whirring of his circuits underneath his synthetic skin.

He knew they were having this conversation now. There was no getting out of it, so Ghoul just bit the bullet and said what was on his mind.

"I heard you talking to Kobra last night."

"You were awake?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep..."

"I'm sorry," Party apologised, his voice soft and small, "I feel like I've ruined your sleep routine now."

Ghoul was fast to reassure Party that he'd done nothing wrong, and lay a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"No, no, you've done nothing wrong. I just... I've had a lot on my mind."

"Like what?"

"The same things you have."

Party looked at him, his face a mix of worry and confusion.

"Affection?"

Ghoul could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he nodded, "Yeah. I... Well, you heard the conversation me and Jet had, we both... God, I-I'm sorry. He said the other night that he dreamt about you, and then I realised that I had been thinking about you in the same way, and it's just... It's confusing, I'm sorry."

"Well if we like each other, where's the problem?"

Ghoul took a deep breath and launched into what he hoped would make party understand.

"It's all really sudden, and if you and Kobra are going to be staying with us, I don't want to start anything that will end badly and break up the group. Plus, Jet likes you the same way, but he's never... He's only been attracted to women, so he's kinda freaking out a lot, and he's my best friend and I don't want to upset him, and... Well, you're, you know-"

"I'm what?" Party asked, managing to meet Ghoul's eye, his eyes shining, "I'm a pornodroid?"

"Yes," Ghoul answered fast, "But I mean it like..." he sighed, "I don't want to hurt you, or mistreat you, or make you feel like you're back in Battery City again.  I heard you ask Kobra about kissing, and I just don't want you to feel like you have to do anything or-"

"Ghoul?"

Party halted Ghoul's rambling and met him with a smile. It was the most shy and sweet smile Ghoul had even seen, and it made his stomach flip again.

"I can see why you might worry, but it's okay. I'm not scared of intimacy, and I'd..." his mouth moved, but no words came out, just for a second. He closed his mouth, hesitating, nervous. Ghoul was nervous too, the entire situation was playing with his anxiety, and he tried to calm both himself and Party by laying his hand over the droid's fidgeting fingers.

Party looked at him, eyes wide and a little fearful, and pushed on with saying what he wanted to say.

"I'd really like to kiss you."

Forgetting his hesitation, forgetting his friendship-based loyalty to Jet, Ghoul couldn't help but want to kiss him too.

"I, uh... Yeah. I mean, sure. I-I'd like that."

Party's eye lit up with joy and surprise, his mouth falling open as he struggled to restrain his smile. His hand, still underneath Ghoul's, turned over and took hold of the man's fingers, squeezing them gently.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but... Softly."

Party nodded very slightly, his eyes noticeably flickering between Ghoul's eyes, and Ghoul's lips.

Ghoul leaned in first, hesitated, and leaned in again when he saw Party tilt his head and lean forward himself. 

Ghoul expected to feel Party's hot breath, but it was more like a soft, lukewarm breeze, and Ghoul forgot for a moment that the droid's breathing was artificial. 

Raising his free hand, he gently touched Party's jaw, feeling the slight warmth that his flawless skin had beneath his fingertips.

Shutting his eyes, Ghoul guided their lips together, and it was electric.

As soon as they touched, it was like a lightning strike to Ghoul's gut; Party's lips were impossibly soft, and he could say with absolute confidence that it was the best kiss of his life so far.

But of course, it didn't last. It was just one kiss, and one kiss can only last so long.

Pulling back from the kiss, he heard Party take a sharp breath, and opened his eyes. Party looked positively awestruck, blinking rapidly for a few second as he realised that Ghoul was watching him.

"Wow," he sighed.

"Wow?" Ghoul smiled, impossibly happy that Party had enjoyed a kiss for what might have been the first time in his short life.

"Yeah, wow," he nodded, biting his lip as he grinned, "I wanna do it again."

Ghoul laughed, just out of nervousness, and leaned a little closer to Party again.

"I'm glad those two left us alone."

Party took his turn to hold Ghoul's face, his fingers feeling alien on Ghoul's cheek, as he hushed him softly.

"Same. Now, can I kiss you again?"


	12. Triptych

Kobra's only reaction to Party asking to sleep on the same mattress as Ghoul was a frown, followed by a raised eyebrow, and then a shrug. 

Ghoul hadn't been consulted about this, and was caught off-guard when he heard Party ask the question. Jet looked over at him, quizzically at first before realising that Ghoul must have made a move while he wasn't looking. Confusion almost changed to a smile until a look of hurt took over his face.

Ghoul hadn't said anything about the kiss to Jet, and he felt guilty now. It wasn't meant to be a secret, he just hadn't gotten round to saying anything, since Jet and Kobra had been spending a lot of time together, deep in discussion about cars and mechanics.

The negative feelings overwhelmed him, and Ghoul found his feet carrying him through to the next room and away from Jet's stare.

The sick feeling was back, and Ghoul knew he'd messed up.

"Are you okay?"

Party had followed him part-way into the room, keeping his distance and standing by the bar of the diner. His voice was worried, and made Ghoul's stomach twist with even more guilt as he leaned on the table, looking out at the sandstorm as the sun set somewhere outside. He didn't deserve concern, he'd hurt his friend. Party should be asking Jet if he was okay.

"Don't you want to share a bed?" Party frowned and stepped closer, still only stood by the bar stools and nowhere near Ghoul.

"No, no, I do. I just didn't... Are we a thing now? Like, is this happening?"

"I... I thought so? Aren't we?

"We can be, but... Jet needs to know. He looked really hurt."

"Oh," Ghoul looked over at Party, who looked awkward, leaning against the bar and fidgeting his feet against the worn out linoleum, "Should we tell him now?"

"Uh, yeah, we really ought to. He likes you just as much as I do, I know I'd be pretty upset if I saw you two together."

"Why?"

The question was an honest one, and the troubled look on Party's face told him that maybe Party didn't really understand relationships.

"Because... If you two were together I'd be sad that you'd chosen him over me."

"Why do I have to choose?"

Another sincere question, even more surprising than the last. He thought for a long moment, trying to come up with a reason, but there wasn't one. Out in the Zones, where there were no rules other than camaraderie and common sense, there was no reason that Party should have to choose between him or Jet if he so wished.

"I-I guess you don't. I... Do you like him?"

He chewed his lip for a second, a smile curling at the corners, "I think so. He has kind eyes, and he helped to fix me. But he's not cute like you, he's handsome."

Party walked over and reached out a hand, gently hooking his fingers around Ghoul's. Party's skin was always warm too the touch; never too warm, never clammy, just smooth and soft and warm.

"I think I like you both, just in slightly different ways. You're not upset, are you?"

He shook his head; if anything, Ghoul was pleased. He didn't have to choose between romance and friendship, and he could only see this bringing the group closer together. His only hope in that moment was that Kobra wouldn't mind. 

Gently, Ghoul pulled Party to him and wrapped his arms around the droid's waist. One hand on his lower back, one hand between his shoulder, he felt the redhead melt against him, wriggling his arms up to loop them around Ghoul's neck. Party gently kissed his cheek and relaxed entirely.

Ghoul hadn't been embraced like this in a long time, and he'd missed it. Party fit against him so well, he didn't want to let go, but he was brought back to reality by Party's words.

"Are we going to tell him then?"

"I guess we have to, plus," Ghoul gently kissed Party's cheek, "I think you want to tell him."

The two of them headed back to the backroom, Ghoul smiling as he sat down and watch Party gently take Jet by the arm.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

He looked from Party's face to where his arm had been touched, then at Ghoul. All Ghoul could do was smile as he watch Jet nod at Party and let himself be lead away, quickly throwing a panicked glare over his shoulder.

This left Ghoul and Kobra alone.

This was the first time this had happened, and Kobra was immediately making Ghoul uncomfortable.

They were sat on almost opposite sides of the room, but the blond was very pointedly staring at him, scrutinising him and clearly trying to figure out what was going on. Ghoul couldn't blame him really, he'd be suspicious if Party and Kobra were taking Jet back and forth to talk to him in private. 

He turned his body to fully face Kobra and invite him to talk, because he wasn't about to announce anything that Kobra didn't want to know about.

"Party's been weird about you," was what he eventually came out with, still studying Ghoul, face blank, "What's going on?"

Ghoul sat back, sighing, "You'll have to ask Party that, I don't really know if I should be the one to say anything."

Kobra narrowed his eyes, "Have you touched him?"

"Wh-No!" Ghoul tried not to screech but he didn't think Kobra would accuse him of something like that, "No! I- Well, we kissed, but he wanted to, I didn't  _make_  him do anything."

"You kissed my brother?"

Ghoul squirmed under Kobra's steely gaze and couldn't keep eye contact anymore, "Yeah, I think he's sweet. It was harmless."

"So what's going on with Jet now?"

He opened his mouth to explain, but he hesitated long enough that all that came out was a crackled 'Aah'. This just made Kobra glare at him even harder, so he snapped his mouth shut and looked away, sitting up a little straighter.

"Party, he... Jet thinks Party's a shiny guy, and Party likes him too. They're just talking now, because Jet's not... He's only ever dated girls, you know? So he's a bit freaked out. But we're not trying to take advantage of Party," Ghoul put his hands together and gestured in Kobra's direction, "I swear to you, we just wanna treat him right."

Kobra's face remained emotionless as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "You understand why I'm so protective of him."  
"Of course I do, I get it completely."

"If you dare hurt him, we will be gone," Kobra's eyes seemed to darken as he made the threat, "I brought him out here to protect him, and if you can't protect him too then I'll have no choice but to take him to safety, away from you."

Kobra lived up to his namesake creature as he spat the words like venom, the aggression in his voice letting Ghoul know that he was not lying.

"This goes for Jet as well. If either of you ever so much as make Party flinch in fear, you will be back on your own."

Ghoul had no idea what else to say. He didn't think he'd ever seen someone so fiercely protective of another out in the Zones; of course people took care of their own out there, but such ardent brotherly love was foreign to him. Ghoul never had any intentions of ever hurting Party, and he'd warned Jet not to do anything that might hurt any of them, but now he knew he would have to go out of his way to keep Party safe, as well as the rest of them.

"Kobra, I swear to you, I will do as much as I can to keep Party happy and safe, to keep us  _all_  happy and safe. We're equals, okay, but if you want me and Jet to prioritise Party, then we'll do that."

"Treating us like equals is enough," Kobra said, relaxing a little now, "So long as no one is treated worse than the others, everything will be cool."

"Understood."

The two of them fell into silence again, Kobra seeming more at ease now that Ghoul had cleared things up and agreed to his terms. The atmosphere was a little tense but Ghoul was glad they'd found an understanding.

In the quiet, Party and Jet's conversation could be heard from the other room now. Ghoul couldn't make out any words, but then they were trying to keep their voices hushed.

He looked and Kobra and smiled, raising his eyebrows and tipping his head in the direction of the other room.

"Do you want to listen in?"

"Isn't that kinda rude? It's a private conversation."  
"Pfft," Ghoul got to his feet, "Suit yourself."

He stepped carefully across the room, as quietly as possible, and poked his head around the wall - just barely enough to see the two of them sat in one of the window booths.

Party had reached across the table and taken hold of Jet's hand, Jet himself sitting back and looking a little apprehensive of the touch.

Ghoul recognised the soft look in Party's face and smiled; seeing that look directed at someone else might make any other person mad, but knowing that Party wasn't choosing Jet over him just made him happy for the both of them. Excited almost.  
Party reached up to Jet's face and touched his cheek, only for Jet to flinch away and let his hand fall back down to the table.

Ghoul could feel Party's heartbreak in his own chest as Jet rose out of the seat, ready to walk away. But he didn't.

Instead, Jet stepped in front of Party and, reaching his own hand out to stroke Party's cheek, leaned down and softly kissed him.

If Ghoul had blinked, he would have missed it, but the smile on Party's face afterwards was unmistakable. He turned and managed to kneel up on the seat, leaning forwards and wrapping his arms around Jet, resting his head on his shoulder and smiling even wider. 

Jet hesitated even now, but eventually hugged Party back, his head dropping against the redhead's shoulder, untensing his body and giving in to being held.

Ghoul grinned, leaning back from the doorway and heading back to his seat.

Kobra caught his eye and asked, "Well?"

Ghoul smiled, "You don't have anything to worry about."


	13. Tie the Knot

"Well," Ghoul looked to his left, at Jet, "What do you think?"

"I think it should be okay," Jet nodded, looking back at Ghoul, "So long as you keep your nose and mouth covered."

The two of them were stood at one of the windows of the diner, looking out at the storm. There was still sand blowing through the air, shifting across the ground in waves, but at least they could see the horizon now.

Kobra had brought up the fact that they needed to go fetch his and Party's stuff from their bike, as well as see if it was worth stripping the bike parts to sell. They still needed to go and trade with anyone who might have batteries; for Ghoul, stopping by Tommy Chow Mein's was a last resort.

There was room in the garage for the bike, they just hadn't been sure if it was okay to go out in the storm; after a few minutes of staring out of the window, Jet seemed to think so.

Ghoul looked over his shoulder at Kobra, who was stood over by the bar.

"You okay to go out in that?"

"I should be. Like Jet said," he shrugged, "So long as we keep our faces covered."

"Alright then," Ghoul chirped, heading out towards the back room, "Let's grab our bandanas and get your bike moved!"  
  


Outside, the wind was fiercer than it had looked from inside. The sand was still blowing about hard enough to make Ghoul's scalp itch, and his sunglasses really weren't doing anything to protect his eyes. Kobra was in the same situation though and didn't seem to be complaining, so Ghoul kept quiet.

The dust and dirt had piled up around the bike in small dunes and drifts, meaning Ghoul and Kobra had to dig out the wheels before they could even think about moving it anywhere. This took longer than expected; sand, when dry, has a tendency to move back into the hole that you just removed it from, so the two of them were left worn out and pissed off by the time they could actually move the machine.

Kobra took the handlebars of the bike, while Ghoul maneuvered the sidecar, and between them they managed to shunt the bike around to the other side of the building.

Knocking hard on the metal shutters of the garage, they stepped back as Jet opened up the door and let the two of them in. The direction of the wind meant that sand was skittering past the entrance, but thankfully not blowing inside. Still, somehow, they managed to leave a very clear trail of sand across the floor.  
  


"Nice to see that you've brought so much of the outside back inside with you," Jet commented, shutting the garage door again before looking at the sand trail, hands on hips.

"Fuck off," Ghoul grumbled, "You'd be a bit sandy too if you had to excavate a fucking motorbike. Anyway," he straightened up, pulling off his bandana and setting his sunglasses on top of his head, "How did _I_ end up doing this? You're fucking built,and you're always taking the piss out of me being so small."

Jet raised an eyebrow and leaned back on a workbench, "You've gotta make yourself useful somehow. Being an arsonist doesn't count as pulling your weight."

"That was like... Two times! And it wasn't arson, there was a point to it!"

"What did you burn down?"

Ghoul rolled his eyes, but still answered Kobra's question, "Okay, I burned down  _one thing_ , and it was a van of exterminators that had broken down in Zone Two. They were just waiting to get picked off anyway. I'd been... Experimenting with fireworks and I made a bomb. Put it through their back window and watched the whole thing go up in flames. The other time," he glared pointedly at Jet, "Was a genuine mistake. I accidentally got a firecracker mixed in with some firewood, it went off and landed on the roof of the shack we were staying at. But I put it out! It was fine, and I swear I am  _not_ an arsonist."

"I hope not," Kobra propped his sunglasses up on top of his head and wiped his face, "I don't think I'd let my brother date an arsonist."

"Date?" Ghoul realised what Kobra meant as soon as he'd asked the question, "'Date', jeez, I haven't heard that term in ages... I-I'm not an arsonist, don't worry."

"He's a fucking wildcard," Jet laughed, "But he's not dangerous to anyone other than BL."

"Are you?"

For a second Jet looked confused, then annoyed, and then he blushed. How Ghoul had gone so long having never seeing Jet blush, only to see him turning red every other hour for the past four days, he did not know, but it was entertaining at least.

"I'm... I'm not dangerous. I'll fight when I have to, but... I'm pretty predictable."

He glanced at Ghoul, mouth open and ready to say something else, but it was like he was waiting for some kind of confirmation, or to be given the go ahead to talk. When Ghoul just stared back at him, no idea what he was supposed to do, Jet turned back to Kobra and swallowed hard.

"So you know about what's happened... Y'know, with Ghoul, and Party, and me?"

"That you both like him, and he likes both of you? Yeah," Kobra nodded like it was no big deal, "Ghoul explained. He knows the deal, and I hope I don't have to explain it all to you as well."

Jet shrugged, an action that made Kobra fold his arms, fixing Jet with an only slightly-less-intense version of the glare he'd given Ghoul the night before as he'd made his position known.

"I brought Party out here to keep him safe, so if you hurt him, you are putting us in an unsafe situation and we will leave. No second chances."

"Right," Jet sighed, nodding to show his understanding, "Of course I'm gonna keep him safe, I'm gonna keep all of us safe... I was just worried that you, like, wouldn't approve?"

"Sure, I approve, but my opinion shouldn't matter," he shrugged and shook his head, looking down at his feet for a moment and kicking at the dirt, "Party has the capacity to make decisions like that for himself. He's not clueless about that kind of thing, but we came out here to live and learn and he should be allowed to have all the experiences he wants. All I can do is trust you not to be an asshole and tear this group apart."

Jet sighed, "Right. Great. Totally don't feel more pressure over this now."

"You know, if anything, we're avoiding a whole lot'a pressure," Ghoul folded his arms, "You know Zone courting's like; hit on the wrong person and bam - you're in the middle of a firefight."

Kobra looked between the two of them for a few moments, waiting for someone to either carry on the conversation to change the subject. When neither of them did, he shook his head and changed the subject himself, "Right, where do we start?"

"Oh... Uh, grab the bags, take 'em inside, then we can start work on the bike."  
  


\---*---  
  


While Kobra and Jet stripped and salvaged parts of the sand blasted bike (which had indeed been ruined by the storm), Ghoul helped Party shake all the sand out of his and Kobra's belongings.

They only had five or so bags, but it was more than what most people brought out into the zones, and the storm had worked sand and dust into every fibre. Nevertheless, Party seemed to show nothing but happiness and relief to have his things back.

"Honestly," he said, smiling as he folded up a tshirt, "I might not sweat or anything, but it's good to have fresh clothes, you know?"

"The fact that you have clothes like this at all is weird enough," Ghoul was stood by the front door, shaking out sand from a pair of red jeans, "Like, most of the clothes that come out of the City get painted or dyed 'cause they're so plain."

"Pornodroids get access to a bit more of a range of colours," Party shrugged as he dragged out his and Kobra's sleeping bags from another bag, "We're supposed to be exciting and 'taboo', and colour is so frowned up in the City, I guess it makes sense that we could dress all pretty."

"Did you like it? The colours?"

"Oh, yeah! Definitely!" Party grinned as he brought one of the sleeping bags over, "We all had our designated colours though, so I'm really glad I can wear whatever I like now."

Ghoul smiled at Party's almost childlike excitement. He'd never seen someone so happy to wear colours; there were people who were passionate or defensive about their colours - Ghoul could remember the swell of pride for his new identity, and defiance towards his City upbringing, when he'd pulled on his green jacket for the first time - but Party was just happy to have his freedom.

"Yeah? Do you have any favourite colours?"

Party smiled to himself as he thought, biting on his bottom lip, "Uh, well I do like red, but I really like yellow. And green. Yellow and green just make me think of happiness and life, like plants and flowers. And blue. But, like, royal blue. Really deep, rich, royal blue, like the night sky out here in the desert."

"You like the stars?"

Party's smile got even wider now as he carried on shaking the sand out of his sleeping bag.

"I love them. The night sky in the City is so uninteresting, but the sky out here is beautiful. Me and Kobra ran with a gang a few weeks ago who told us all these stories about the stars, like, they all have names and there's stories for all the names, and the stars make shapes and those shapes have stories. It's like," he sighed, still smiling as he thought for a moment, "There's so much more to absolutely everything I thought I knew. There's more to colour, and more to the sky, and more to  _emotions_. Everything is just so much more, I love it."

"Well I'm happy that you're happy," Ghoul smiled as he folded up the jeans and added them to the small pile of sand-free clothes on a nearby table. He picked up his bandana, stroking over the blue and white star printed fabric, and thought to himself.

"Hey, Party?"

The redhead jerked his head up, having been pulling at a stubborn loose thread on a t-shirt.

"Do you know much about zone traditions? Like... I mean, I don't know how much you've learnt about life out here so far."  
"Well, what are you asking about?"

Ghoul twisted the bandana around his hand a few times and he found the words.

"Like... Okay, so every killjoy has their colours, and sometimes when two killjoys start a relationship, they wear one anothers colours. Like a bandana, or a patch on their jacket. It's not like,  _compulsory_ or anything, but, y'know..."

Party tried hiding the smile that was creeping across his face, twisting his lips to one side in an effort to stop it spreading, but it was impossible. His face split into a grin as he resettled himself on the floor, crossing his legs and and facing Ghoul fully.

"Are you asking if I want to wear something of yours?"

He laughed bashfully and weakly gestured to the bandana in his hand and explained, "I thought... I mean, not like in an  _official_  way or anything, if you don't want that, but I have this bandana, and it's kinda more Jet's colours than mine, but it has stars on it, and you said you like stars... I thought maybe you'd like to have it, to kinda represent the both of us. I dunno... You don't have to."

Party's smile didn't waver at all while Ghoul rambled, he actually seemed to smile even more, leaning forwards a little with his hands on the ground, listening and watching more intently than Ghoul had seen before.

"So what are yours and Jet's colours then?"

"Mine and yellow and green, and Jet's are blue and black. I thought, cause this," he waved the bandana again, "Is mine, but it's blue... Ugh," he flopped his head down and slumped over, groaning to himself, "Just forget it, it's stupid."

As he stared at the ground in front of him, Ghoul really wasn't expecting Party to move so fast as he did, when the droid launched across the floor and took a hold of Ghoul's face, finding his lips and kissing him sweetly.

Party's lips were always so warm and soft, Ghoul couldn't help but melt a little inside. He was still sat on the floor, Party kneeling up in front of him as they kissed. It felt like a head-spinningly long moment to Ghoul but it probably only lasted a couple of seconds. Maybe not even that.

Sitting back and smiling, Party gently took the bandana from Ghoul and ran it through his hands a few times, admiring it before tying it around his wrist. Before either of them could say anything, Jet walked in from the kitchen, completely unaware of the exchange that had just happened as he drank from his water bottle.

"Hey, wha's going on?"

Party looked from Jet back at Ghoul and grinned widely again. Without a sound, he stood up and walked across the room, wrapping his arms around Jet's waist and resting his head against the taller mans shoulder, shutting his eyes.

Jet was a little surprised at how quickly Party had made it across the room and latched to him, but his face softened as he hugged him back, holding Party to him in a way that looked him he was scared Party would break. The droid's body did look small and delicate compared to Jet's height and broad shoulders, but the contrast between the two of them was cute, in Ghoul's opinion.

"Hi?"

Party laughed and looked up at Jet, still smiling as he reached up and held Jet's chin. He just stared for a few moments, taking in Jet's slightly startled look, before going up on his toes and kissing the corner of his mouth.

"Hi."

Jet looked dazedly from Party to Ghoul and back, managing a smile and asking, "What was... What's going on?"

"Just," Party shrugged, "I feel wanted and cared about for like, the first time in my life, and not in a fucked up way or a brotherly way. I'm just happy."

Smiling, Jet brushed his fingers through Party's hair in the softest gesture Ghoul had ever seen, and leaned down to kiss his cheek in return. He still had some hesitation over the whole things, but Ghoul nor Party could blame him really.

Party pulled back one arm from around Jet and held up his bandana-wrapped wrist, beaming proudly.

"Ghoul just gave me a half-assed explanation about Killjoys and colours and relationships, and gave me this, because it's his bandana but it's your colour. I think it's kinda fitting... What do you think?"

"I... I don't..." Jet shook his head and frowned, but his mouth soon found a smile, "I mean, I guess yeah that's my colour, I just... You want to wear it?"  
"Yeah! I like the stars on it anyway, but if it's something that connects me to you, that'd be even better."

"Well, sure... If you want that?"

"Of course I do," Party laughed again, seeming to find Jet's nervousness endearing, "You're both my guys, I wanna show that."

"Oh, we're  _your_  guys, are we?" Ghoul called with a smirk. Party looked at him and turned around, keeping one arm around Jet and placing his other hand on his hip.  
"Yeah, you're my guys, if you wanna be."

Ghoul got to his feet and leaned on the table, raising and eyebrow at Party's sudden sassy attitude, "I'll be your guy."

Party grinned and looked up at Jet, who simply pressed a kiss to Party's temple and gave his hip a squeeze.

"I'll take that as a yes," Party leaned into his side again and bounced on his heels a little.  
  


The three of them stood smiling at each other for a few moments in comfortable silence, until that silence was shattered by a shout from the kitchen.

"Jet, I need a monkey wrench!"

The shout of his name mad Jet jump, which in turn made Party jump and pull one of the most ridiculous faces as he turned in the direction of the shout.

"Fucking hell..." Jet breathed, looking back into the kitchen just as Kobra stepped through the doorway, "You don't have to shout."

"I did though, you were in a different room."

"Yeah, but you could'a just come in here and asked."

"Shouting was easier," Kobra shrugged, ignoring the look of exasperation on Party's face and the stifled giggles coming from Ghoul.

Jet sighed and let go of Party and turned away, heading to the kitchen, muttering to himself as he went.

Once they were out of sight, Ghoul let his laughter out, propping himself up against the table and watching Party shake his head at the two others.

"Why is he like that?" Ghoul asked, hoisting himself up onto the tabletop and reaching for another sandy piece of clothing from Party's bags.

"Like what?"

"So... deadpan?"

Party shrugged, walking back over and moving a pile of clean clothes, "Dunno, that's just the way he is. I think my droid brain and his logical brain gel pretty well, even if he can be a little dense sometimes."

"I'm not sure if his logic and Jet's logic gel particularly well... Gonna make things interesting."

"I think they'll get along just fine in the long run," Party smiled, glancing at his new bandana and stroking over the knot, "I think we'll all be just fine."


	14. What's Your Favourite Colour?

As the sun rose the next morning, light and shadows were cast over the floor for the first time in almost a week. The wind of the storm had died down enough that the sand was no longer diffusing light, and the four who had been holled up inside the dinner started preparing to set out.

 

The two brothers gave their belongings a final once-over, everything having finally been freed of sand, bags included. In that time it seemed that Party had given Kobra a brief explanation of Killjoy colours, and how each Killjoy had their own colour scheme that they were identified by.

As they packed their bags, Ghoul noticed that the clothes beside Party were mostly red, blue, and grey, and the ones beside Kobra were red and yellow. They'd both arrived that first evening in coloured leathers anyway - Party in blue and Kobra in Red - so it seemed they were trying their best to work with that.

"Hey," Ghoul smiled, sitting down on the floor opposite Party, who smiled back.

"Hi, how's packing the car going?"

"It's going good, Jet's taking care of it now. He told me to come check on you guys. You working on colours?"

"We're  _trying_  to, yeah," Kobra frowned, looking at his pile of clothes, "It's difficult though. Party has far more coloured things than I do, and I really don't want to accidentally adopt someone else's colours."

Ghoul looked at the clothes that Kobra did have; mostly grey and black. There was a yellow t-shirt, a white t-shirt, and his red leather jacket. He was currently wearing black anyway, so his current attire couldn't add anything to the pile either.

"Don't worry about other people's colours," Ghoul tried reassuring him, "So long as you don't have the same colours as any of us three, then you're fine. There's only so many colour combinations you can have. For instance," Ghoul raised an eyebrow at Party, his eyes flickering to both of their left arms, and back to Kobra, "My colours are yellow and green, and Jet's and black and blue. Party's picked his as red and blue, so as long as you don't have any of those combinations then it's fine. But colours are only used as in-gang identifiers, really. Like... Gun colours, memorials, tributes for the Phoenix Witch, that kind of thing."

"So," Kobra frowned as he tried to grasp the concept fully, "I don't have to wear the exact same colours every time I change my clothes?"

"No, just as long as you keep your jacket, keep your gun, and keep your mask with you at all times, you're good. It just matters that we know who you are, what your colours are, what your mask is, what you gun looks like."

"I don't have a gun."

" _What_?"

"Neither of us do," Kobra repeated, like it should have been obvious, "I said the other day I hadn't fired a gun before, I don't even have one. I have a switchblade but we never got the chance to get our hands on rayguns."

Completely dumbstruck, Ghoul looked between the two brothers, mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"How in the  _fuck_  are you two still alive? Really? Nine weeks in the desert, alone, no real shelter, no fucking guns... You," he almost laughed, sighing as he shook his head, "You are very fucking lucky."

"I get that now," Kobra sounded a little sheepish, "We really weren't as prepared as we should have been, but I'm glad that Party had the good sense to drive us here when the storm hit."

"It's like someone was watching over us," Party shrugged and smiled, "Making sure we got to you and Jet safely."

Though he could hardly call the two brothers falling in through the diner door weaponless and semi-conscious arriving 'safely', Ghoul smiled at party's sentiment. Whether that had been the universe's plan for the four of them or not, he was glad things had worked out this way. 

"Maybe. Who knows, but," he sighed, "That means we've gotta go see Tommy Chow Mein. We can't have you out here with no guns. I'll let Jet know so we can make plans for where to go to first," he rolled his eyes, "Sure can't wait..."

"Who's this Tommy guy? Don't you like him?"

Ghoul leaned back against one of the seats and tried not to pout about having to visit Tommy, "He's a trader in this Zone. Pretty much everyone knows who he is, 'cause he always has the good stuff; good food, fresh batteries, brand new guns. The only problem is he's moody bastard and most of the time he only trades for carbons so he can get his stock from the City. Hopefully he'll be nice to us though, because Jet's all buddy-buddy with some of his best Zone runners."

"So," Kobra started, shuffling forwards on his seat a little more, leaning his arms on his knees, "Tomorrow, we go trading for... Food? Batteries? Weapons?"

Ghoul nodded, "Yeah, all of those. Maybe clothes too, and bedding? No offence," Ghoul glanced at the two sleeping bags, sticking out of the top of one of the bags at the trio's feet, "But sleepings bags won't cut it at the Lockup, You're gonna need blankets and shit, that place gets cold at night."

"What's the Lockup?"

"Mine and Jet's base. It's an old storage building, back from before Batt City even existed. Me and Jet keep most of our stuff there, but this diner's like a second home."

"So... The Lockup's gonna be our place too now?"

Once again, Ghoul smiled at Party's question. He reached out across the small space between them and took hold of Party's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, looking between the redhead and the blond.

"We're a gang now, us four. It's not me and Jet, and then you two. What we have, we share; food, bedding, skills, supplies, and space. Tomorrow, when we get to the Lockup, that's home. That's our home."


	15. Red Line to the Lockup

The Trans Am didn't look nearly as roomy as it usually did, but then that was when it was just Jet and Ghoul and their stuff. Now there were two more people and two more people's worth of bags to pack into the old machine. Granted, this wasn't much, but just Kobra and Party's presence meant that all but one of the seats were now taken, and the Trans Am couldn't really be considered a good place for sleeping during stops along Route Guano in the dead of night.

Ghoul was excited to show Party and Kobra the Lockup, which Jet was still a bit apprehensive. Of course, he was worried about what people would say about them suddenly banding together with a random killjoy and his fake brother who also happened to be a pornodroid.

"There's no kind of 'society' out here for people to have expectations for," Ghoul reasoned, rolling up the few items of clothing he had and shoving them into a bag, "And besides, the Zones are full of droids. We're all City rejects, doesn't matter if we're flesh or silicone, we're all in the same boat."

"I just..." Jet rounded the end of the bar, making his way over to where Ghoul was on the floor, "I worry about how people might treat him, you know? Most people out here aren't even gonna know that...  _physically male_ pornodroids exist, I'm just scared people might just look at him like a brand new toy to play with."

Ghoul stopped what he was doing and looking up at Jet with bored disbelief, "No one's gonna 'play' with him, and if they try to we're gonna be there to protect him. You're worrying about such a non-issue, Jet. Anyway, people out here might be crazy, desert-dwelling Killjoys," Ghoul waved his hands around and rolled his eyes, "But they're not wild animals, no one's gonna attack him."

"There's literally a gang who call themselves the Wild Animals though," Jet slumped into one of the booth seats as Ghoul glared at him.

"Are you  _trying_  to piss me off?"

"Sorry, sorry! But you can't really blame me for being worried though."

"You're right, I can't, but you need to chill. He's gonna blend right in, and if he wants to go totally incognito as a fleshy human-person, he can wear sunglasses. I know you care about him, I do too, but if you start acting twitchy about things then  _you_  are gonna be the one making us look suspicious."

Ghoul picked up his now packed bag and got to his feet, quickly changing the subject, "So, you got all the gear in the Trans Am?"

"Uh, yeah, there abouts. I had a bit of trouble with Kobra's bike parts so we have a couple of bungee hooks holding the trunk shut, but it should all be fine."

"Anything we can't take to the Lockup we can leave here, I know a few loose floorboards in the kitchen where we can stick stuff so it doesn't get pinched."

"Nah, we've got everything, it's fine."

Ghoul slung his bag over his shoulder, looking around the place to see if there was anything to grab before they left. In the silence be two of them, music reached Ghoul's ears and drew his eyes towards the kitchen. 

Without a sound, he walked away, through the kitchen and towards the open door to the garage. Here, the source of the music was evident; Party and Kobra had found the car stereo, along with Ghoul and Jet's CD and cassette collection.

Kobra was in the passenger seat, handling each disc and tape with care, reading each tiny label carefully before moving onto the next. Party, however, didn't seem to understand how delicate and precious these artifacts of the old world were, nor did he understand that you don't ever put your damn fingers all over a CD.

Almost shoving Ghoul out of the way, Jet ran around to Party's side of the car, yelling to get his attention away from the worn out CD he was examining, and carefully took the disc and small pile of cassette's away from the droid.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa... Party, you've gotta be careful with these," Jet held the CD by its edges between his thumb and finger, "These might be the only ones of their kind left out here, you don't wanna go smudging or scratching them."

Party's face fell from one of intrigue to one of disappointment as his hands dropped into his lap and he muttered a small, "Sorry."

Ghoul frowned, seeing the disappointment on Party's face as he set down the music tapes on the dashboard. Gently pulling Party's head towards him, Jet planted a kiss on his forehead and sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't to be patronising. I just... The music means a lot to me. It's the only good thing we have left from the pre-war times."

"It's okay, I was just curious. I've only really found out about music since leaving the City. Like... When we got out to the Lobby, we found music and jukeboxes in a few places."

"Yeah," Kobra joined in, "We even had a portable music player for a while but it fried in the sun. That had Zone music on it," a hint of a smile twitched at Kid's lips, "That was pretty cool."

"Party said he picked his name from a song," Ghoul smiled and nuzzled against Party's hair a little, "Where'd you get your name, Kobra?"

"Oh, I never said?" Kobra's eyebrows raised and he shrugged, "I dealt with snakes."

"'Dealt with snakes'? What does that mean?"

"Snakes always got into the place we were staying at in the Lobby. No one else would get rid of them so it just kinda became my thing."

"What, really?" Jet chimed in, looking shocked.  
"Yeah," Kobra nodded like it wasn't a big deal, "I mean, I don't know what kind of snakes they were... Pretty sure it was a rattlesnake of some kind, but the other people living in that room already called me 'kid' or 'kiddo' so I became 'kobra kid'."

"Wow," Jet huffed, finally showing some kind of positivity towards his new buddy, "That's pretty fucking impressive."

Kobra half smiled, just one side of his mouth curling up, as he replied, "Thanks."

 

"So," Jet carried on, "Are we ready to go? Got all our stuff?"

Ghoul slung his small bag of clothes into the footwell of the back seats and jumped over the side of the car, taking the seat on the drivers side before even waiting for an answer.

"Uh, right," Jet frowned and went through a mental checklist on his fingers, "Food supplies, clothes, bike parts, tool box... I think so. We've got some stuff at the Lockup too, so we should be fine, and we're going out trading. It's still pretty dusty out there, so you all got your scarves, glasses, goggle, masks, whatever?"

Ghoul pulled his bandana from his pocket and checked that his sunglasses were on his head; Party had his scarf around his neck already, his welder-style goggled resting on the dashboard; Kobra, however, had a yellow biker's helmet resting on his lap, which he patted fondly.

Kobra had only got his helmet back that morning, which was a small miracle in itself. Party had left it on the bike when he and Kobra had arrived at the diner, and it had been battered around and buried by the sandstorm. Kobra and Jet had found it half buried against the external wall of the garage and they had cleaned it out as best they could.

"Right, well... Let's rock and roll!" Jet grinned and strode across the garage to the shutter door, unlocking it and throwing it up and open, the sunlight pouring in and catching on every metallic surface in the room. Jet was left in silhouette for a few long moments, the sun breaking through the edges of his hair and giving him a strange halo of sorts, before he strode back into the room, picking up his keys from the workbench and tucking his helmet under his arm.

"Ready?"

The three looked at each other, checking for approval, before looking back at Jet and nodding.

"Well," Jet grinned, "Party, you're gonna have to move. I'm driving."

Party made some small noises of uncertainty, twisting around in the seat and eventually deciding to climb between the front seats and into the back, beside Ghoul, leaving Kobra riding shotgun.

It was going to be strange for Ghoul to be in the back seat for a journey; he usually sat up front unless he was sleeping in the back, but everything was going to be completely different from now on so he may as well start getting used to it now.

As Jet barricaded up the door through to the diner, Party settled back into the battered leather seats, looking anxiously at Ghoul.

"You alright there?"

"Yeah, uh," Party frowned, then smiled half-heartedly, "I've not been in a car since... For a while."

Ghoul knew Party was talking about being in the City and he did his best to try and comfort him.

"Don't worry, okay? Jet's driving, and he's really great at driving, and I'm here," he took hold of Party's hand, drawing the droid's attention away from his oncoming panic, "We're heading straight from here to the Lockup. It's, like, a twenty minute drive. Fifteen if Jet really steps on it."

"I'm not stepping on it," Jet interjected, climbing into the drivers seat and putting the key in the ignition, "This car is a nightmare off-road and you  _know_  the storm's gonna've relocated most of the desert onto the roads," he turned around in his seat to look at Party, offering Kobra few glances as he spoke, "It'll be about twenty, twenty-five minutes, but it'll be a safe drive. Don't you worry. None of the Drac's are gonna risk being out in any kind of storm, even if it's barely there anymore. They're too fucking prissy to get their hands dirty."

Turning back in his seat, Jet put on his helmet, flipping the visor up as he check around with the others, "Masks on?"

Kobra donned his yellow biker helmet and passed Party's goggles back to him, the red haired droid already securing his scarf around his nose and mouth. Ghoul wrapped his black bandana around his mouth and flipped his glasses down from his head, giving Party a reassuring smile before he did so.

Ghoul nodded to Jet in the rearview mirror, and the older man nodded in return, flipping down his visor and starting the engine.

The fan belt squealed for a moment as Jet revved the Trans Am, warming up the old engine under the hood. Slowly, the car reversed out of the garage, the wind starting to whip around the four of them and hail sand against the metal of the car and the leather of their jackets.

Jumping out of his seat, Jet ran to shut up the garage door against the storm, and to stop intruders to the diner. He quickly returned to the car and hit the accelerator, sending the group of killjoys on their way to the Lockup.

Party was looking, acting, and feeling very tense in the back seat, clearly not okay with being back in a car.

Gently, Ghoul took his hand again and brushed his thumb over the redhead's knuckles, unable to offer him a smile from behind his bandana and sunglasses. Party turned to look at him and squeezed his hand in return, moving closer across the shared seat and trying to relax a little.

Ghoul smiled to himself, watching Party's hair whipping around his face as he looked out at the road ahead of them.

 

The wind was still too fierce, and the engine too loud, to bother playing any music, so they spent the journey in silence. There were no other cars on the roads, though Ghoul could have sworn he saw something kicking up dust on the horizon; maybe a small whirlwind from the remnants of the storm, maybe another gang hitting the red line after being cooped up in their own shelter. There were no Dracs, no S.C.A.R.E.C.R.O.W. units, and thankfully no sign of any poor souls who hadn't survived the storm.

Aside from the dust in the air, the drive couldn't have been easier, and even though Jet had said it would have taken longer than usual, it still only took fifteen minutes or so to reach the Lockup.

The shell of a building was a sight for sore eyes. As familiar as the diner was, the concrete block that was the Lockup wasn't homely, but it was home. 

The L-shaped building, weathered and grey, looked abandoned, but Jet and Ghoul knew how full of life it really was. The corridors may have been left bare, but every occupied room was painted floor to ceiling, sometimes including the floor and ceiling, in any and every colour imaginable, decorated with flags, banners, posters and papers. It wasn't much but, to Ghoul, it was the best home he'd ever had.

And now, with two more killjoys in their cohort it would only be cosier, friendlier, more fun, and safer too. 

Jet drove the Trans Am up to the building and through the only open garage door, and into the ground-level parking area.

There were a few other vehicles in there - a quadbike, an intimidating looking four-by-four, and an old banger that wasn't too dissimilar to the Trans Am itself.

Ghoul didn't recognise the car or four-by-for, but the quadbike could mean they were in for an interesting stay.

Jet turned off the engine and took of his space helmet, turning in his seat to look at Ghoul.

"Looks like Lithium's about..."

"Yeah," Ghoul eyed the quadbike and took off his sunglasses, "Here's hoping she keeps quiet."

"Hm. That Landrover looks familiar though."

"Does it?"

"Who's Lithium?" Kobra asked, having flipped up the visor of his helmet.

"A fucking liability is what she is. The less you know about her, the better.  _Trust_  me," Jet replied, shaking his hair out as he got up and out of the car, "Anyway, come on. We've got shit to do."

 

Grabbing a bag or two each out of the back seats and trunk of the car, the four of them made their way into the rest of the building.  
Jet took the lead, followed by Kobra, with Ghoul and Party walking side by side at the back. Jet was giving the same 'grand tour' speech that he'd given Ghoul when he'd first been brought to the Lockup, so Ghoul decided to embellish Jet's basic guide with other, more useful points that he'd ended up discovering himself.

"There's a basement, but we only use it in case of raids or storms. Like a safe room."

"There's only one entrance that isn't via the elevator shaft though," Ghoul elaborated, "So unless you're on the first floor when a raid or a storm hits, be prepared to jump."  
"Jump?" Kobra asked, sounding skeptical and a little concerned, "What if we're on the top floor?"

Ghoul chuckled, "Don't worry, mine and Jet's room is only on the third floor, and the elevator shaft has ladder's on the wall."

Jet lead the group towards the staircase that ascended through the corner of the L-shaped building where the two wings met. As they climbed the four flights to the floor where his and Ghoul's room was, he carried on giving Kobra and Poison pointers on life in the Lockup.

"You can only use these stairs. The stairs at the far end of the East Wing have all the windows smashed, and those landings are mostly used for making fires. The stairs at the end of the South Wing got blown up and took out the second floor landing, as well as the stairs going and up and down from there."

"It's not exactly practical," Ghoul added "But if we have to make a quick escape down that way, the drop down isn't too bad. We cleared most of the rubble so it's not as dangerous, but still, we don't know how, like, structurally sound it all is."

"Is there anything about this building that's not dangerous?" Kobra asked, sounding almost bored.

Ghoul laughed a little as he suggested, "The locks on the doors?"

 

They reached the third floor, heading into the wide corridor, lined with shutter doors. The few unoccupied ones were left open, the walls sprayed with old tags and the floors littered with papers and sand. The shutters that were closed, however, were painted with deliberate patterns; insignias and killjoy gang colours, slogans of rebellion and hope, every singly shutter was unique.

Four doors from the corridor entrance was Jet and Ghoul's room, still securely locked and safe.

Their shutter door was split diagonally, the top left corner decorated like outer space, an astronaut drifting through the speckled stars; the bottom right corner was a mess of colour, yellow, pink, and acid green, with a stylized purple smiley drawn over the messy background. Compared to Jet's careful design, Ghoul's stamp on the place was a mess, but that summed him up pretty well.

Ghoul smiled as they stopped, Jet putting in the combination to the lock on the door, "Home sweet home."

 

Reaching  for a bundle of switches on the wall, Jet flicked on the strings of lights that decked the walls of the concrete box. Inside, everything was just as it had been left two or so weeks ago, and it felt as though a weight had been lifted from Jet and Ghoul's chests.

Their few precious belongings were all in their places, and Ghoul couldn't help but smile like a Cheshire cat.

The yellow lights strung around the room showed their old stereo with its pile of tangled wires, boxes of magazines and comics, a few piles of books, toolboxes and mechanical scraps, and a small shelf of food. At the far side of the room, the floor was carpeted with cushions, pillows, blankets, sleeping bags, and sheets, turning the floor into a wall-to-wall bed.

Above the bedding area, a hole had been chiseled through the external wall and filled in with glass bottles and jars, all of it sealed in place with clay, making a kind of patchwork window.

 

"Wow," Party smiled, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived, "This is really nice. It's... Um, what's the word?"

"Small?" Jet suggested.

"Yeah, but, like, in a nice way."

"Cosy?" he tried again, which earnt a happy nod from Party.

"Yeah, cosy. It looks really lovely here."

"It is pretty cool," Kobra agreed, "It reminds me a lot of where we lived in the Lobby. The window is a nice touch."

"Yeah, no idea who did that," Jet shrugged, stepping into the room and dropping his bags on the floor, "Someone else had this room before but the other 'joys living here said they died. It was kinda decked out already and they'd taken what they wanted and left the rest for whoever wanted it, which was me."

"Also, everyone knew how great Jet is with cars and wanted to be his best friend anyway," Ghoul walked past Jet and sat down on the bedding pile, "So it was either give him the dead guy's nice room or suck his dick."

Jet turned around and scowled at Ghoul, who was now wearing his signature shit eating grin, "Dude."  
"You know what they're like," Ghoul pointed out to the hallway, towards some of the other rooms, "Some of them would suck your dick just for a good meal, let alone a good mechanic."

"You're unbelievable," Jet shook his head while Ghoul just giggled, "Un-fucking-believable."

"Oh, you better believe me, Mister Jet Star, sir. Kobra, Party," he looked over at the two brothers, still stood in the doorway, "Come on in guys, this is your home now too."

They hesitated, Kobra for a moment longer than Party, but made their way into the room. Party immediately gravitated over to the bedding pile, sitting down beside Ghoul and smiling shyly. How he was still so bashful was beyond Ghoul, but it was sweet, and Ghoul couldn't help shuffling closer to him.

Kobra wandered in and put down his bags beside Jet's looking at the taller man and nodding once, like a greeting. Jet smiled back and patted his shoulder.

"So," he grinned, "It might be pretty  _cosy_  here, but I think there's enough space for the four of us."

"I'd say so, wouldn't you?" Ghoul looked across at Party who smiled and nodded.  
"I think so." His smile was sweet, and excited, and made Ghoul's heart swell.

Kobra shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking from Ghoul and Party to Jet, remarking, "You know, I think it's gonna be fine."

Jet clapped his hands together, grabbing everyone's attention immediately, "So, are we going trading today? It's only about noon, plenty of time left."

"I thought that was the plan anyway?"

"Yeah, I'm just double checking, 'cause we need to get the car unpacked before we can head anywhere."

"Let's go then," Kobra started walking out to the corridor straight away, followed by Jet, but Ghoul didn't move. 

"You okay?" Jet looked from Ghoul to Party, noticing that maybe something was up.

Ghoul turned to Party, who had stayed quiet, his knees bunched up to his chest as he leaned lightly on Ghoul's shoulder.

His strange pale eyes were so familiar to Ghoul now, his face kind and his posture had relaxed so clearly after Jet had left.

"You okay?"  
Party smiled softly, "Yeah, I'm a lil' nervous but... I'm okay."  
"Why're you nervous?"

"Just... It's a new place, and there's other people here and I'm just a bit worried 'cause, you know... I'm  _different_."

Ghoul looked up at Jet, raising an eyebrow; Party was worrying about the exact same things that Jet had been worrying about, and he could tell the two of them could comfort one another. Taking the hint, Jet walked back over and sat down beside Party, slipping an arm around his waist and gently pulling him to his side, "You have us. If anyone has a problem with you being different, they're gonna have to answer to Ghoul and me."

Party rested his head on Jet's shoulder and smiled, "Okay, that makes me feel a bit better."

"Anyway," Ghoul added, "Everyone here knows us, they're like... Like extended family. They know what we're like, they wouldn't cause trouble."

He took hold of Party's hand, squeezing it softly and smiling.

"Come on," he tipped his head towards the doorway, "We have bags to unpack."

"So, this is home now? More home than the dinner?"

Ghoul stood up, helping Party to his feet and pulling the redheaded droid to his side, "I guess so, but home isn't always a place. Sometimes it's the people you're with."

Party smiled at Ghoul, then Jet, who stood up from the mattress and smiled sheepishly, before kissing Party's cheek and leading the way out of the little room. The others followed and locked the shutter behind them, making sure their room would be safe from any sticky fingered Killjoys wandering the building.

"Not to be rude," Kobra started, as they made their way back down the staircase, "But please don't be all over each other all the time. I'm not good with that kind of thing anyway, but it's even weirder when it's with my brother."

"Chill, don't worry," Ghoul laughed, "We have  _some_  self control, we're not  _wild animals_."

Jet shoved his shoulder for this, making him stumble down a few steps, still laughing.

"Oi!"  
"Don't listen to him," Jet reassured Kobra, "He's just pissing around. We'll do our best to be discreet or whatever, but like..." he shrugged, blushing slightly and lowering his voice, "Mutual respect, yeah?"

"Sure, sure. I'll get used to it eventually, I guess."

"You know," Party mused, grinning at the at others, "I think this is gonna be a lot of fun."

Ghoul gently linked his fingers with Party's and smiled as they walked, glancing at the bandana tied around his wrist, "Just wait 'til we actually get out into the Zones, meet other gangs, go to parties and campfires... Between the storms and fights and rebellion, everything in the desert is an adventure... Just wait and see."


End file.
